Revenge
by jellybean-kitty
Summary: It was meant to be a prank, just a harmless revenge prank to teach her a lesson. They hadn't meant for it to go wrong. They hadn't meant for her to die...
1. Murder, She Cried

This is something completely different to anything I've wrote before. The idea popped into my head and the plot bunnies have been working overtime since. I hope all who read it enjoy it! It's an an AU in the way that no beyblades are involved.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

Murder, She Cried 

Kai Hiwatari's hands trembled on the steering wheel: not out of nervousness but of anticipation. Excitement, even. Beside him sat his loyal friend Tala Valkov. His ice blue eyes stared straight at the road before him in deep concentration and his lips where in a mischievous smirk. Good. Neither of them could back out now. They _couldn't_. That bitch had to get what was coming to her. A little revenge wouldn't go wrong. Then the 'princess' would know that she can't treat people the way she does. It drove him insane that fact that they used to be best friends only a short while ago. But two weeks ago that all changed. Two weeks ago she crossed two people she shouldn't have. Two weeks ago they knew something had to be done about her.

* * *

_Kai felt a bit excited, and a bit was an understatement. He was finally going on a date with his long term friend Garnet Granger. The girl was perfect. He couldn't believe he'd never saw that before tonight. She really was an angel among humans: sweet, pure, beautiful. A goddess in the flesh. Words couldn't describe the way he was feeling at that moment in time. Everything was just so perfect. Even he was looking perfect._

_He'd chosen to wear some smart but casual clothes on the first date. He wouldn't have to impress her, he knew. That had already been done in the past. However, this was a time old tradition of his. He always dressed to impress on a first date. He continually tweaked and pulled at his clothes until they sat perfectly. Then he tweaked an pulled again. He was getting antsy and he knew it._

_He checked his watch. If he picked her up now, he would be almost an hour and a half early. But, hey, it was Garnet Granger. His best friend, no, his _date_. She wouldn't mind however early he was. She never did in the past. Perhaps this was different, though. In the past they'd never gone out with each other. Should he change or act the same? The drumming of his fingers on the wall told him the latter option._

"_I'm going out," he told his roommate. Always short and simple. That was the way he liked it. _

_Ray Kon, the roommate, said something but he couldn't hear him well enough to interoperate his words. Something like 'good luck'. Like Kai Hiwatari needed good luck. In all his twenty-two years, he'd never needed an ounce of luck in his life. He'd always gotten by. Tonight would be no different, he figured._

_He revved up his four by four and sped away to Garnet's sorority house. The fact that his fraternity and her sorority were brother and sister only proves that they were meant to be. There was no other way around it. It was a fact. Sure as the sky was blue and there was a fly on his window. A fact._

_He pulled his car up outside the magnificent looking house. It was pure white. It had to be pure, with Garnet living there. Smiling, he checked his reflection in the car mirror. He was looking good and he knew it. Confidently, he strode up the stairs and into the house. Kai Hiwatari never needed an invitation to get into any sorority house. At first, some of the girls looked alarmed. Then they just looked plain uncomfortable. Kai's suspicions began to heat up. _

"_Maybe you should go back and pick her up later?" One of the girls suggested. A blonde, and very good looking._

_There was something in her voice that told him there was more to that suggestion that meets the eye. If his suspicions were big then, they were in overdrive now. He noticed none of the girls could meet his eye. _

"_Where's Mariah?" He demanded. His cousin would tell him the truth, provided she knew it. If there was foul play, chances were she didn't. She kept nothing from him._

"_Out," Said another girl. "Look you should really go. Garnet's not ready."_

_Kai narrowed his eyes as he tuned in his fine hearing. He knew Garnet's room location like the back of his hand. He knew they sound that people make when they're having sex. He knew that both of them had welded together. He then knew anger._

_The girls said nothing as Kai Hiwatari bolted up the stairs in speed that rivalled a race horses. He was faster. His feet stomped along the floor, making the house shudder under his rage. When he got to Garnet's room, so innocent looking from the outside, he froze with his hand on the handle. There was definitely some one in there with her. Taking a deep breath, he burst through and the betrayal was intense. There, on her bed, Garnet Granger was having sex with Tala Valkov._

"_Jesus, Kai!" The red head screamed. "What gives?" Tala immediately covered up any indecent exposures and glared at his 'friend'. He'd just interrupted the best single moment of his life. "What the hell are you doing here?"_

"_That would be my date you're fucking," he said with all the fury of a lion. His crimson eyes had gone a shade darker and they never wavered from Garnet's baby blue. She was sorry, he could tell. But only because she was caught in the act._

"_Look, guys." Garnet pulled her quilt over her body so that she was completely covered. "I can explain."_

_Tala shook his head. "I don't want an explanation. You played me."_

"_You played both of us." Kai added._

_Tala began to pull his clothes on. His actions were jerky. He was pissed off. Seriously pissed off._

_Tears began to well up in her baby blue eyes. "I'm _so_ sorry."_

_Kai knew her well enough to know that she wasn't sorry at all. Maybe because he found out, but apart from that she was pretty damn proud of herself. She was desperately trying to hide a smirk. His angel had turned to the dark side. He knew that she loved to wrap people around her finger. He knew she loved to take advantage of people she deemed weaker than her. He never though for an instant that he would be one of her victims. His angel had betrayed him. She would regret it._

_Tala stormed out of her room in a deafening rage. Kai followed just after, slamming the door behind them. Garnet wasn't finished though. She had to take this to her full advantage. She couldn't let people think she was an innocent victim. She was never innocent._

"_God, if only you saw the look on your face, Kai." She followed him down the stair with her quilt still wrapped around her perfect tanned skin. "It was priceless. How does it feel, huh? How does it feel for people to use you for a change?"_

_Kai stopped. Either was insane or she had a point to make. "What are you talking about?"_

_She laughed. It cut his heart. She was laughing at him. "You've always used me. You've used me to get so many other girlfriends and then when you do you leave me on the side until you spilt up with them and have a sudden need fro little old Garnet Granger. Now you know how I feel. Now you know the rejection I feel."_

_He couldn't be sure wither she was telling the truth or not. There was perhaps an element of truth in her words. He didn't care. She could play innocent all she wanted. He wasn't going to believe her. Without another word, he and Tala left her and her sorority. They got into Kai's car and both slammed the doors with such vigorous force the doors almost shattered._

"_We've got to pay that bitch back." Tala's force sounded calm but there was a hint of burning rage mixed with fury and a little added hurt. "We've got to get even."_

"_We will get even. The Saturday of the Spring Fling, we'll get even then." He smirked cruelly. Kai could be cruel when he wanted to be. "I have a plan."_

* * *

A thump on Kai's eyes jolted him from his thoughts with a start. He glanced at Tala who casually tapped a finger at the car's electronic clock. It flashed seven thirty. It was time. Turning the keys in the ignition, his car came to life with a gentle hum. A soothing noise, to Kai. He changed the car's gears and drove away from their fraternity house to pick up their cargo. Along the way, he shouldn't help but smile at the genius – sheer genius – of his plan. It was great enough to give any comic book villain a run for their money. What they were going to do was pick up Garnet with the promise to 'talk things over'. The girl was so in love with herself she probably through the boys would throw themselves at her feet and beg for her forgiveness if they could only just be friends ago.

_Sorry, G. But that's not the way its happening._

They would take her in the car to a secluded spot, tie her up and then put her in the trunk and drive her to the Spring Fling in 'style'. A quiver of anticipation ran through his back. The beauty of it was that Garnet couldn't do anything. Their sorority and fraternity were old prank rivals. And that was, essentially, what this was. A little revenge prank. Garnet would know that if she wanted to keep her high esteem she would have to laugh it off as a prank or face an entire college life of snide jokes behind her back. Well, more evident ones.

The car pulled up right outside the sorority. The windows of the house winked at him. They would keep their secret. They'd probably had enough of the girl looking lustfully out of them while she scouted for new prey; new meat to eat.

Garnet was leaning against the wall impatiently. They were two minutes late. Kai almost laughed. She was wearing a beautiful white dress that showed off everyone of her flawless features seductively. If it wasn't for his bitterness he would even have admitted that she looked amazing. Tala looked over at him and smirked before getting out of the car to open Garnet's door for her. A bit of chivalry never went a miss. She moodily got into the four by four and fastened her seat belt.

_That's right, sweetheart. Buckle up. It'll be one hell of a ride._

"Where are we going?" Garnet asked. Her voice was calm and confident as always. There was a touch of uncertainty though as she saw they'd passed the dance hall. "The dance is back _that_ way." She jerked her thumb behind her.

"We're going for a talk." Tala turned around and smiled at her innocently. "We want to make things right again."

She made a huffy sound but didn't say anything else for the remainder of the five minute journey. The car stopped just outside of a forest and along a track that only a vehicle like Kai's could travel without any hassle. Garnet winkled her nose. Out of all the places in California, why did they stop here? Her eyes scanned the ground. It was dirty. Not good for her white satin shoes.

"I'm not getting out her." She folded her arms snootily. "The grounds dis_gust_ing."

Kai and Tala looked at each other and grinned. Kai opened the door and Tala loosened Garnet's seat belt before dragging her out of the car where she landed roughly on the ground with a grunt of pain.

She glared up at them infuriated. "What's the big idea? My dress is dirty. You can pay for this, you know."

"Hold her." Tala could no longer contain his pleasure at he barked his demand at Kai. This opportunity was too good to be true.

Garnet struggled against Kai's strong hold. She tried to kick out but Tala wound roped around them so tightly that she couldn't feel them. She screamed. It did no good. Her hands were then tied securely behind her back. She turned her head and looked at Kai pleadingly. Her baby blue eyes were rimmed with tears. And fear. It almost made Kai rethink this whole thing. She once again looked so innocent, like a child in need of protection. Tala wrapped a piece of cloth around her eyes rendering her sightless. Immediately, Kai was torn away from her spell. They couldn't turn back now. Not when they were so close to revenge. Kai let go of her body and watched it smash to the ground with satisfying pleasure. He was about to gag her but Tala stopped him.

"I want to hear her scream."

Kai laughed as Garnet whimpered, "Please don't hurt me." She could be so dramatic sometimes.

Together, they hoisted her body into the trunk of the car and slammed it shut. Immediately, Garnet started screaming as loud as she could. Kai could sense the fear in her voice. Something inside of him stirred. Surely she didn't deserve this? What she'd done to them was cruel, sure. But did that mean they should do something crueller?

He shook his head and reminded himself that it was only a prank. Their fraternity had done worse than this to the girls. This was just playtime incomparison. He climbed into the car and started it up.

Garnet still screamed.

As soon as the ignition had started, Tala cranked up the radio. A nice heavy metal song started, completely drowning out her screams and pleads. Kai slammed his foot on the pedal and the car started on the journey back to the school. The drove down the dirt track along the edge of the woods. The trees seemed to lean over the car. There were judging him. Condemning him. Their looks of disgust lingered in the rear view mirror. Kai watched them as they went by.

"Kai watch out!" Tala hollered.

It was only at the last minute that Kai saw the deer. He turned the car sharply and it missed the beast by a fraction of a centimetre. The car continued to swerve. He tried to regain control but it was futile. It spun several times and collided into a tree.

Kai's hand shook as they latched onto the steering wheel. He looked over at Tala who nodded weakly: his indication to show that he was unharmed. Kai tried to start the car again but stopped. Garnet had stopped screaming. The only sound that could be heard was the occasional hoot of the owl.

He suddenly felt sick.

He almost fell when he stepped out of the car. His legs were like jelly. He clung onto the side as he made his way to the trunk. Tala met him on the other side. Neither of them could look at each other. Why wasn't she screaming?

"Garnet?" Kai ventured. "Are you alright?"

No answer.

Tala banged on the trunk several times with a clenched fist. "Come on, this isn't funny."

Still no answer.

Kai could feel vomit rising up within him as he slowly opened to trunk. Then the vomit escaped in waves.

Tala couldn't care for his friend's sickness. He couldn't care for anything because his entire world was focussed on the body of Garnet Granger. Her face was amassed with blood that had leaked down onto her dress. It was as if they had desecrated an angel, albeit a dark one. They were unholy, blasphemous. His hand shook as he raised it to her open mouth. It hung open in mid-scream, cruelly twisted out of shape, betraying the horror that she had just gone through. There was no breath coming from it. He put a hand on her wrist to see if he could feel a pulse. He tried to ignore the limpness of the cracked bone. There was nothing. No pulse, no breath, no sign of life. Garnet Granger was dead.

They'd murdered her.

* * *

Just to let you know, this is strictly NON Yaoi. It's more a friendship fic, if you could call it that.

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	2. An Untimely Burial

Hope you guys like this one!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

An Untimely Burial

"Shit," was all Kai could find the strength to say after he'd finished throwing up. "Shit, shit, shit." His voice was full of panic. He'd wanted to get even with Garnet, but not like this. Never like this. 

"Don't you think that's a bit of an understatement?" Tala ran a hand through his thick red hair. He felt panicked too. He couldn't help his voice rising to match Kai's.

They were in deep trouble.

Kai raised a shaky hand to stroke Garnet's bloodstained face. He wanted to shut her mouth. He wanted to drown out the screams that were still echoing through the night. More than anything, he wanted to bring her back. That was impossible, he reminded himself.

Shit.

"What do we do?" Kai asked, trying to regain his composure which he very rarely lost. Then again, he very rarely took part in the death of a friend, even an ex-friend. "Do we go to the police?"

Tala said nothing at first. His mind ran through all the possible situations. If they went to the police, they'd be found guilty of manslaughter and would be in prison for the rest of their college life, if not longer. On the other hand, they could get rid of the body, bury it with tonight's memories. No one would ever have to know. Then they could get away, as far away as they could so that when they finally did find the body they'd be so far away that they'd never be caught. They would have to get rid of the evidence, too, so that there was nothing pinning them to this. They didn't have a motive, or so that police would think.

"We'll bury the body." He said eventually in a voice so hauntingly calm it scared himself. "We'll bury her deep in the woods then drive the car over the cliff about a mile down the road to get rid of the evidence. Then we get the hell out of here."

"People will know we're gone. It'll look suspicious."

"But if we go to the Spring Fling like this then it'll be obvious we were up to something. It'll be the same if we miss it entirely and so does Garnet. We'll go back to the house and pack our bags with extra clothes and money then get the hell out of here. We'll drive over the California state line and make our way to Mexico." Tala nodded. "Yeah, Mexico."

Kai put his head in his hands in despair. "Mexico? We're going to live the rest of our lives in Mexico?"

"Can you think on anything better?" Tala demanded with the coldness of a cold blooded killer. Except he wasn't cold blooded, nor a killer. "This is the only thing we can do unless we want to go to jail. Either way, our lives are going to be ruined. Why don't we just choose the solution that doesn't give us a criminal record and no freedom?"

Kai knew he spoke sense and out of both of them, he probably had the clearest head. He couldn't get over the initial pain of losing Garnet. Since childhood, they'd been almost inseparable. Inseparable, that was, until Garnet had discovered that both he and Tala liked her more than that and then had took both of them without them knowing. The pain of losing his best friend was almost intolerable but so was the idea of tarnishing his prospects in future life by getting himself a criminal record. Besides, they could easily be successful in Mexico and safe from the U.S of A's law.

"We don't have any shovels." Kai said.

"We'll use our hands."

Kai looked at his and smirked. "I don't think they could get any dirtier anyway."

* * *

They chose a spot in the very heart of the forest between two looming oak trees that kept watch for them. Their wooden eyes scanned the perimeter for any intruders of eavesdroppers that happened to come by – at least that though made the two boys feel better. They'd only just begun and already both had began to sweat. It wasn't that it was hard work – both were used to ferocious training schedules to keep in shape – but the nerves that they would be caught in the act caused their palms to moisten and their work pace quicken noticeably. 

Neither Kai nor Tala were used to working on their knees like a common man. Both had been privileged as they grew up in rich households where they'd been aware that such work was meant for those beneath them on the social scale. They weren't snobs but their noses weren't exactly straight pointing either. It was ironic, or so it seemed to Tala, that they were now stooping as low as a common murderer, a common man, so that they could keep their privileges – or most of them. Irony had a funny habit of looking at these situations and laughing. Hard.

After a few hours of relentless and silent toil, they'd made a makeshift grave that was almost one foot deep, half a foot wide and six feet long. Kai wiped some of the sweat beads that had formed on his forehead with the back of his hand, smearing it with a black line of dirt. Now he looked like a professional gravedigger. He felt like one, he was one. He was no different from those people who murder then bury their victims. Isn't that what they did? He wondered how many of these people had been in the same situation; killed some one by accident and then got rid of the evidence. How many? How many people had been proclaimed cold hearted, murdering bastards when all they'd done is made a mistake like theirs? How many, he wondered again.

"I think that'll do it." Tala said after scrutinising their work carefully. He nodded. "It better do it because this is giving me the heebies." He rubbed his dirt covered hands over his suit's arms leaving marks and looked around at the his surroundings: the endless queue of trees trying to see over each other and take a peek at the crime scene unfolding before their very branches.

Kai nodded. "This place is creeping me out. How many people do you think have buried people right here, right in the woods?"

Tala shrugged. "We could be the first, we could be the twenty-first. Frankly, I don't care what number we are in line. Let's just get this over with."

He opened the boot of Kai's car. Kai had insisted that they close it while they were digging. Tala hadn't objected. It seemed cruel to dig a grave before the body. Maybe even more than creating the body to begin with. It opened with a slight thud. Garnet's head lulled to the side so it looked to Tala as if she was staring at the grave – her grave. Her screaming mouth seemed to open a bit wider.

Kai took her legs while Tala grabbed her arms and together they closed the small distance between the car and their masterpiece. It surprised them both how heavy her body was to two strong men like themselves, though perhaps it was their consciences that they were carrying too. Carefully, they lowered Garnet's body into the bottom of it so as not to add insult to injury. They'd treated her very badly tonight. They had to at least make it up to her somehow.

"This doesn't feel right," Tala said though he filled the hole in anyway.

Kai said nothing. There was no need to. Whatever he felt, Tala felt too. Whatever he was thinking, Tala was thinking it too. So he said nothing.

Little by little, Garnet's body began to disappear from sight. The last remaining thing was her head. Her eyes continually stared at them and her mouth still twisted in that horrible fashion. Kai stopped looking. It was physically impossible for him not to imagine the dirt going into her eyes, her hair, her open mouth. Like a wiping a slate, he tried to erase it from his mind by not watching it happen. He kept grabbing handfuls of dirt and throwing them on top of her, again and again and again and again.

A hand on his arm told him to stop.

"It's done." Tala said softly, more to calm himself than his friend.

Kai took a deep breath in and forced himself to look at their finished artwork. The feeling he got was like the feeling Frankenstein must have felt when he created his monster. If he had a conscience, that was. The only sign that there was even a disturbance on the ground was the way that the dirt seemed loose when Garnet was lying. And that was only noticeable if you looked closely.

Suddenly Kai laughed. They'd just got away with murder. They were done, finished, free. Tala, surprised, found himself laughing too. His was filled with the relief that they'd never have to face this past again. If there was one ghost that wouldn't haunt him, it was Garnet's. Of that he was sure. But there was still one more thing they had to do before they were home free.

He got into the car and Kai followed him. He got into the driving seat. Under normal circumstances, Kai never let anyone drive his car – they might not have had insurance if anything happened. Under those particular circumstances, he offered no objection. This was going to be the last time anyone was ever going to be in the car – anyone without gills – so why not let some one else take the driving seat. Kai doubted his insurance was going to cover driving it off a cliff to get rid of evidence for murder anyway.

They were both silent as the car sped through the deepening night. A glowing cresant moon shone above them, giving them some guidance down the road. To avoid being spotted, Tala had turned off the headlights. His head leaned forward as he tried to predict the twists and coils of the snaky road.

Before long, they were on the homestretch. Maiden's Point, it was called, the stretch of road that led along the sheer drop to the ocean down below. There was no barrier and if a driver didn't keep their wits about themselves it was no hard feat to plummet almost thirty feet to the unforgiving murky waters below. It had been done many times by both sober and drunk. Tala felt the slightest bit dizzy as he tried to judge how much distance was between him and the edge of the road. There was only a little bit farther to go until they cleared this area and were free to dispose of the vehicle at the end of Maiden's Point. It was a popular tourist sight and he hoped that there would be no unwanted sightseers watching them tonight. To the unknowing eye, they might just seem suspicious.

Without warning, Tala stopped the car. It came to a sudden halt and Kai found his body thrust against the hold of the seat belt. He glared at the red head. Damn, was he jittery. Or had he seen something?

"Go and check that there's no one there." Tala demanded.

Kai was in no mood to argue. He just wanted this dirty business over and done with. The sooner they did that, the sooner they could leave town. It was strange now the place that had been home to him for so long was now the place that he wanted to escape from. Fate had a funny way of helping you out then kicking you in the ass. Twice, for good measure. At least that's what he might have though had he believed in such a thing. He jumped out of the car and surveyed the area. Empty. Of course it would be, everyone was at the Spring Fling. He gave Tala the thumbs up and the car started again and drove right up to the very edge of the cliff. Any further and Kai worried that Tala would be going down with his precious baby. She wasn't so precious anymore. His car was a killer.

Tala climbed out and slammed the door shut behind him. He'd left the radio still playing and the ignition on. A slow melody sounded through the air and the car hummed gently along with it.

The two boys placed themselves at the rear of the car, looked at each other and with a simultaneous nod pushed hard. It didn't take much effort to move the car forward just enough to roll the front tires over the edge. When it had the initial momentum, all they had to do was watch as the rest of the four by four toppled over and smashed into the water below. It seemed to linger on the surface as it tried to desperately to swim. It took one last breath and sank. Kai felt remorse. That had been one hell of a good car.

He shoved his hands in his pockets for no reason. "We'll have to walk back. The college is only a half mile away. If we walk fast, we can make it there in ten minutes. We'll pack what we need, then get a bus to the next town. We'll have to rent a hotel room or something until a Rent-A-Car opens up."

Tala nodded. Kai was thinking ahead. "That sounds like a plan."

* * *

Tired and dirty, Kai and Tala trudged into their house. It was silent, dark, empty, deserted. They would have at least an hour before people started arriving back home and that would only be the people who'd lost their date in the midst of busy hands in the night's activities: some girls could be really prudish when they wanted to be. They only needed fifteen minutes, twenty minutes tops. Maybe luck was with them. 

Kai walked up the stairs to the room he shared with Ray Kon: a post-graduate like himself. This was supposed to be his final term at college to tie up any loose ends. Well, he'd have to cut his time short. Ray had left the room spotless, as usual. He'd been the best roommate Kai had ever had; always neat and tidy much like he was. It was so much easier to get along when the person was almost a reflection of you. The main differences being that Kai could be resigned and silent; almost moody to those who didn't know him and there were only four or so people who fit into that category. One of them was now dead. Ray had always been open and generally cheerful. Kai had never admitted this but he'd always kind of liked Ray even if he never showed it much. He might even miss him.

The first thing he did when he'd checked the room was empty was wash his hands. A simple scrub and the night's activities could be washed away like he washed away dirt. He splashed water over his face too, just for the hell of it. If he was going to scrub up he may as well scrub up everywhere. He grabbed for the nearest towel and quickly dried to wetness off of him. Tala would probably be packed up by now.

He grabbed a backpack from under his bed and rummaged through his clothes drawers shoving anything he deemed appropriate into the gaping hole. He was like a man possessed. Meticulous and rapid. He knew what he was doing now. He somehow just knew it.

When his bag was close to bulging, he grabbed his passport, all his money – around two hundred dollars – and his wallet where he had back cards. Feeling set and ready to go, he left his room, closing the door for the last time.

As predicted, Tala was already waiting for him by the door. He'd had the same idea of washing up. Squeaky clean for their new life. They looked at each other but Kai couldn't bring his crimson eyes to fully meet his blue ones. He was afraid that their secret would blurt out if he did. They just couldn't have that, could they?

Together, they walked to the bus stop. In no time at all, the last bus drove up beside them and the doors swung open. An overweight middle aged man sat waiting to take their fare. He looked at them over his glasses and remained chewing on a tooth pick that had obviously been in his mouth for quite some time. He had the red cheeks of some one who'd seen a lot of vino in his day. He held out his fat hand palm upwards to Kai.

"Take us to the next town," Kai said and thrust some change into the crevices of lard. "Don't care where."

The driver chuckled. "The college road trip, huh?" He gave Kai two tickets. "Or you running from a sordid secret?" He laughed again at his own joke which he deemed funny.

Tala laughed too with all the humour he could muster. "You could say a bit of both."

The driver laughed again and shut the doors behind them. To Kai, it seemed as if he was shutting the doors on his very past. It was a surprisingly good feeling. He felt in good spirits again.

They walked up the aisle of the bus. It was empty bar a few drunken men and a few more even drunker teenagers. Kai chose the seat at the very back of the bus and felt Tala sit beside him. He watched as his town, his _life_, drove past him. He watched and then he smiled.

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty xx


	3. Working In Confidential

Here's chapter three. I hope you guys like it. It's sort of giving you a bit of insight into what's going to happen in the rest of the story, ever so slightly.

Diclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

Working In "Confidential"  


It was shortly after one a.m when the bus dropped them off in Los Angeles. They hadn't expected to be driven so far but here they were in the City of Angels. They didn't belong here, not with the angels. Not anymore. They amply lumbered off the bus, despite the feelings of fatigue due to the night's events. Their bodies may be tired but their minds were still wide awake.

The bus had stopped not far from the city centre. Perhaps ten minutes or so. However, if the boys wanted to keep a safe budget for time being – one which used no credit cards – they would have to find one that wasn't so close to all the prime locations in the major city. Downtown L.A seemed liked the best place to try for cheap accommodation, only for tonight. At least in a hotel that was in the more rundown part of the city they would have less questions to answer.

"I suggest we stop in at a twenty four hour. Pretty soon, people are going to wonder where you, me and Garnet are and there'll be descriptions of us running around on the radio and what not. I think we should think about changing our appearances." Tala offered no objection to Kai's suggestion

Kai jerked his thumb out onto the road and a passing taxi pulled up momentarily. The driver rolled down his window. A waft of cigarette smoke hit Kai but he didn't mind. Though he'd never smoked a full cigarette in his life – he had never liked the sensation – he'd always enjoyed the smell of smoke. It seemed to be able to clear his mind. The smoker was a middle aged man who looked as hard as nails. He seemed to have a permanent scowl fixed into place with superglue on his unshaven face: probably a result of a lifetime of unsatisfaction in his job, in his marriage and probably his entire life.

"We need a cheap place to stay and we also need to get to a night shop. Any ideas?" Kai asked the driver who tapped ash out of the window.

"There's a two star, if you're lucky, hotel in the red light district that's just a prime location for the ladies of the night." The driver looked at Kai and Tala and snickered. "That's of course if you boys need to pay for your action, which I highly doubt in those clothes. Naturally, where's there's girls working, there's gotta be shops to sell their protection. Can't be having any buns in the oven where they come from. I betcha if you walk twenty metres down the street you'll find a shop that's open and gots plenty of supplies, if you know what I mean." He snickered again at his own joke but Kai wasn't in the mood to correct the man that that wasn't their intention. Tala didn't either. God knows it might be the only kick the man gets in his life. "It ain't far but I'll take you there for five dollars. I'm sure a couple a college boys like you can manage that." He spat out the window, his spit nearly hitting Kai's shoe.

"That's great." Kai said, trying not to look at the man for the feeling of bile that was burning in his stomach might be shown in his eyes. He could imagine that he knew that area all to well.

Tala grabbed their bags and shoved them in the trunk of the taxi. He then got into the backseat, giving Kai a subtle glance that said 'what the hell is this guy on?'

The car drove away from the pavement and joined the bustle of traffic that, at a quarter past one in the morning, wasn't all that uncommon.

"So what you boys doing here? I saw your bags so I'm guessing you're just passing through?"

"Road trip." Tala instantly replied, maybe too quickly but cheap conversation had never done well by him. Cheap conversation was for when you wanted to pull your grades up with a teacher or find a 'nice' girl in a bar. Not when you're trying to run from a murder.

"Take it you'll be renting a car then?" He spat out his open window again as the car stopped at some traffic lights. Kai could see from the number of working girls that they'd already made it to the red light district of Los Angeles. It had never been a place he'd seen himself winding up in any city. "There's a good place not far from here that can set you up with some nice little babies for a fraction of the cost of the big name places. Probably stolen though." He snickered again. The guy cracked himself up something awful. "It's called Ronny's Rentals. I know it sounds seedy but you'll get a better deal there than anywhere. Just tell him Jimmy sent you and you'll be alright."

The car pulled up just beside a rundown looking building that bore the name 'L.A Confidential'. Kai and Tala exchanged glances as they paid the driver and got out of the car. All of the places the boys had been too in their cushioned life, this had to be the first that wasn't their usual four/five star standard.

"There's a store open just across the street." Tala pointed out it out with its garish lighting. They crossed over with their bags close in hand should there be any trouble and they wouldn't have been surprised if there was in an area like this. It stank of trouble. Trouble was leaning against the walls in skirts that would give glamour models a run for their money. Trouble had to be avoided at all costs. "When you say changing our appearances, I'm assuming you want us to change our hair colour?" Kai nodded. "I always fancied myself a brunette."

"I guess I try black."

A bell rang as the two boys walked through the door. At once, the black cashier had his eyes on them and his white colleague stood guard at the door. Both stared at Kai and Tala intently as they looked through their products of hair dyes. They picked up a box and brown and black 'Color Easy'. They also spotted a road map and took that too. Everything else they could get at a later date.

As the cashier rang up their bill, he exchanged glances with his friend. Hair dyes at this time in the morning meant trouble. He didn't say anything but, 'seven dollars fifty.' Tala handed him a ten and didn't wait for his change. Not looking at the white man guarding the door, Kai and Tala walked out of the shop and back across to the classiest looking hotel in the whole of L.A. At least for the seedy people who stayed there for cheap while they looked for even cheaper entertainment.

The place just stank of exclusiveness as Kai walked through the automatic doors. On the walls were old fashioned wallpaper with the occasional photo frame with photocopied art work from famous artists. His foot caught on a hole on the stained green carpet and for a reception area, there were a few women's weeklies and a couch that Kai would personally rather stand forever rather than sit on it. His initial opinion had been quite accurate. As before, the place just stank of exclusiveness; you had to be exclusively desperate or seedy to even want to stay here. Kai wasn't sure wither he was excluded from that conclusion or not.

A charming looking receptionist looked up at them over her nail filing and rolled her eyes drastically. "How can I help you boys?" Kai wanted to point out that they were probably older than she was but thought better. He should probably make this short as possible.

"We'd like a single room with two separate beds for one night…please."

The girl, not out of her teens yet, chewed loudly on her bubble gum. "Not often we get people looking for single beds…" She smiled at the two of them slyly. Kai noticed that some of her ninety-nine cent lipstick had stuck to her teeth. "Of course if you boys change your minds we've got plenty of double rooms and even plenty more women for you to share them with."

Tala smiled through his teeth and took out his wallet. "I think we can manage."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatever. Offer's open if you change your mind. Here, we pay upfront. Fifty dollars."

He slapped two twenties and a ten onto the counter and put his wallet away. "I'm assuming you don't take credit cards."

Looking at him darkly, she slid his keys over the counter and into his hand. "Second floor, room number twenty-two. Have a nice stay, _sir_," she said sarcastically.

"I'm sure we will," he replied with even more sarcasm and wrapped his fingers around the tea. He nodded to Kai and they walked towards the elevator feeling faintly surprised the place even had one.

"Breakfast's served at eight," she called as the elevator closed at their backs, "if you're staying at the Ritz."

Neither bothered replying as she laughed heartily at her own joke and resumed filing her nails as if they'd never been there. They wish they hadn't. Kai's nose wrinkled at the smell of disinfectant that emitted from every possible pore the elevator had. He wondered how many people had vomited here or even died. He probably couldn't count them with his fingers, in a neighbourhood like the one he was in. The tin box lurched as it reached their floor then creaked open like a coffin being opened by a corpse. The place looked as if there were many corpses, only they stayed in rooms rather than coffins. It sent like shivers down Kai's back.

"This is it," Tala inserted the keys into the lock, "room twenty-two, home sweet home." He swung the door open and in one grand gesture held his arm out for Kai to enter first. "Milord, your quarters for this fine evening."

Kai dragged both of the cases into the room and let them fall in the middle of the dirty carpeted floor with a dull thud. He looked around him. At least it seemed to have been dusted and hoovered and the bed sheets changed – or so he hoped. He emptied the store bag onto the bed he had claimed as his and grabbed the box of hair dye, studying the instructions intently.

"We should get this over and done with, then plan out our route," he suggested.

Tala picked took the bottle of him. "'Blackest ebony'? This sounds dubious. How the hell do you put it on?"

Without thinking, Kai said, "Garnet would know."

Tala looked at his friend strangely. "Yeah, she would. But she's not here. She'll never be here again." He read over the instructions once last time. "And it's because of us she won't."

"I just meant," Kai saw the look Tala was giving him. It read badly. "Never mind. Let's get this over with."

Tala smirked and tossed Kai the bottle which he caught. "You go first."

* * *

Kai emerged from the relatively clean – in comparison – bathroom short of half an hour later with a towel wrapped around his shoulders and waist. The pungent smell of ammonia was drifting through the air gently and clung there like the aroma of death. He studied himself in the full length mirror and frowned. His normal two-tone blue hair was now completely changed to black. The look was so different he wondered if it was actually him there or had he died along with Garnet? 

"Looking good," Tala said and nodded his head as he gave it his seal of approval. "Pretty good. If it wasn't for the fact that I know its you I'd never have recognised you." He nodded again, circling his like a vulture. "I guess if you can do it so can I."

Kai smirked. "It's not as easy as it looks."

"We'll see," he replied and entered the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

Kai heard the sound of the shower running and knew Tala was already attempting the difficult feat he had only just carried out. Difficult for a man, that was. How girls could do that on a regular basis amazed him. He took the towel from around his shoulders and rubbed his hair dry with it. There were a few traces of black dye left on the towel but he couldn't care less and tossed it on the floor at his back. He mused about wither or not it would still be there when the next guests stayed in this room. He'd bet the rest of his money that the stains would at least remain on the towel if the towel didn't remain on the floor.

He sifted through the clothes in his suitcase and shoved on the first articles his fingers grasped. He didn't care how he looked. Once, around a day ago, he would have. That could even have been his main priority. Now, however, things had changed dramatically. His one priority now was to get out of America as quickly as he could and make a new life in Mexico where he'd be free from the convictions he was sure that the American courts would gift wrap for him and then detonate. What would he get if he was arrested? Ten years? Life? The death sentence? What would happen?

His mind lost track of time as it continually ran through the events, and consequences, of the night – had it only been one night?- and it seemed to have been no time at all until Tala came out of the bathroom, still dripping and in much the came fashion as Kai had. The main difference was that he looked rather pleased with himself as he admired his new colour.

"'Coffee Brown' really suits me, doesn't it?" He didn't expect a reply and carried on as if he hadn't asked a question. "Better than red, anyway." He ran a hand through his scalp so that the roots were exposed. "Not even a trace of the old me…"

"When you're done kissing your own ass get ready. We need to plan our route _and_ get some sleep if we want to have any chance of getting out this God forsaken country alive." Kai was already looking at the map at the other end of the room and had a pen ready to mark in their chosen route.

"Alright, alright." Tala took a handful of clothes into the bathroom. "I'll be out in literally two minutes."

He kept true to his word.

He sat beside Kai who'd spread the map out across Tala's bed, pain in hand ready to mark their course. Tala couldn't help but feel impressed, and intimidated, by Kai's intense concentration. The wheels in his head were turning full spin and without lubricant. His eyes had narrowed and his brows furrowed as he studied the roads that were possible to take, weighing out the pros and cons of each with the fin tuned scale in his head.

"We're here," Kai said and circled L.A. "I think we should take this road that'll connect us to the interstate that goes straight into Arizona." He drew a perfect line down the middle of the chosen roads. "That'll take us, give or take, most of tomorrow. We'll want to stop at night so we can lay low. Remember, there'll be a search going on for us and they'll be expecting us to be travelling at night as well as the day. I suggest we keep off the roads after eight o'clock." He drew another line onto the map. "This road leads straight onto New Mexico which, if we're really lucky, we'll be able to make before our deadline. I have my doubts, but if we start early, say eight o'clock, I don't see any reason why we won't make it there." He glanced up at Tala whose eyes were reassessing the plan on the map carefully. He didn't look as if he was going to offer any objections. "So we'll either stay overnight there or in Arizona. The next drive will be a bitch. Not only that, but we're right at death's doorway when we drive through Texas. We can't afford to stop for anything but gas and a quick meal. If we're found there, we may as well be found dead. We'll just keep driving all day, night and the next until we reach the Mexico border. Then it's just a simple case of crossing it and never coming back."

Tala was silent for a few minutes. "We'll never make it across Texas in one day. It's impossible."

"I know, but if we share the driving then while one sleeps the other can take the wheel. That way, we won't have to stop for anything other than the necessities." Tala stayed silent this time and Kai drew the last remaining pencil lines that confirmed their journey across the states and into freedom. "If we take this road, which is less populated by the commuters and sight seers, then we should be fine. I'm guessing all the turnoffs etcetera will be signposted so that's not something we need to worry about."

"All we _do_ need to worry about is not drawing attentions to us. It'd kill me to get caught."

Kai couldn't help but laugh, not at what he said but the implication. "You know, both of us are assuming they're going to find us guilty. For all they know Garnet's body will never turn up. They might just assume she's another run away."

"You and I both aren't that stupid."

Kai's laughter instantly stopped as his false sense of security which had just began to wrap around his like a childhood blanket was cruelly snatched away and ripped into shreds. He didn't look at Tala. He knew his friend was right but there was something in the harshness of his voice that he just wanted to ignore. In his mind, he just wanted to ignore everything and curl up into a ball with his back against the coldness and unfortunate ways of the world. In reality, he knew that was impossible. Too much was expected of him on behalf of Tala. They were in this together and had been from the start. They would have to finish it on that note.

"How much money do you have?" Tala asked.

"About a couple of hundred. I'll stop at an ATM tomorrow morning and get some more."

Tala made a mental note. "I've got roughly about three hundred left. That should do us for gas and food and any overnight stays we may have."

From the room next to them, they suddenly heard the sound of raised voices. It sounded as if some man was getting his money's worth. The girl, she sounded younger than they were, shouted in ecstatic euphoria and the man even more so. Tala and Kai smirked at each other. Some men could be fooled so easily by a woman's 'pleasure'. The girl's voice took a sudden turn. So sudden that Kai found himself leaning closer to hear. She screams of joy turned quickly to screams of fear. There was the sound of furniture being knocked over and a struggle. Looking at each other in alarm, Kai and Tala ran out of the room just in time to see the girl fling open the door and run into the corridor. Her eyes were as wide as a deer's stuck in the headlights of a fast moving car except hers held more fear. Down her face and from her ruby eyes tears streamed down causing her eye make up to run down like some grotesque artwork: grotesque yet beautiful.

Her dilated pupils fixed themselves onto Tala and Kai as she prayed silently for help. They watched stationary as a man's hand wrapped around her wrist and tried to pull her back into the room. She screamed again and pulled hard, showing that she possessed more strength than the two boys initially thought. Another hand ran up the short length of her skirt onto the bareness of her pale legs. She slapped it away and was able to free herself from the monster's grips.

A man, perhaps in his thirties, came out after her. His face looked as mean as the girl looked terrified. His brown hair was slicked back with hair gel and there were some beads of sweat mounting on his forehead as he perspired in anticipation.

He grabbed the girl's wrists again and pulled her in towards him so he was looking straight into her eyes. For a few seconds she stopped resisting as she became trapped in the bottomless pits. His other hand snaked around to her back where it lay stroking the exposed flesh her flimsy top revealed.

"I just want to get my money's worth, that's all," he hissed into her ear.

Then she began struggling again.

"Let go of that girl." Kai demanded coolly and calmly as if he'd only stated what the current weather was like. There was no need to become panicky over his opponent. Kai could smell alcohol and God knows what else from him. If it did come to a fight, he would stand no cahnce against Kai, even if he was sober.

His grip relaxed for a moment but that was all she needed for to get free. She instantly ran behind Kai and Tala where she figured she would now at least get _some_ protection.

The man held his hands into the air in a submission of peace. "I'm only wanting to get what I've paid for. Then I'll leave her alone and be on my way."

"He's not paid for anything yet!" She insisted shrilly from behind Tala's back, putting her hands on his shoulders so she could shout above his head. Kai took a proper look at her and saw that for all her fear there was some fire in her eyes that hadn't yet been put out by the coldness of life.

"Is that true?" Tala asked.

Her customer shrugged. "You pay for what you get after you get it, just like in a store. Can't have one of these little sluts doing a runner with your hard earned cash, can you?" An intrigued look crossed his face. "Just what's it to you, anyway?"

"It's nothing to me." Kai replied as honestly as he could. "In fact, I couldn't care less. But obviously, this girl doesn't want to sleep with you and her screaming's stopping _us_ from sleeping." He went into his pocket and dug out a few notes to throw at the man. "Go outside and find another girl on us."

Shrugging, the man accepted the money, or so Kai assumed. They'd already went back into their room before they could see what his reaction was. The girl followed them, needing no invitation. She sat on Kai's bed and looked out onto the street below with nostalgia.

"Thanks for helping me out," she said quietly. "It's my first night on the job and I guess I kinda chickened out." Neither of the boys said anything. "I'm Hilary Tatibana, by the way."

"Alex Law," Kai replied not entirely sure where that name came from but he thought that if he was going to change his appearance, he should also change his name.

Seeing what Kai was doing, Tala said, "Paul O'Grant."

Hilary smiled. It was the soft subtle smile of some one who'd been through a lot but had always looked on the bright side as she did it. "So what are you two doing in a neighbourhood like this? It doesn't look like your standard vacation."

"We're road tripping to Mexico," Kai said.

"_Back_ to Mexico," Tala corrected. "We've been touring the states and this is the last lap. We're leaving at about eight for the long trip home."

"Oh," Hilary said, obviously interested. "You don't look Mexican. Maybe Russian or northern European. _Not_ Mexican."

Kai smirked. "Good guess. You said tonight's your first night on the job, didn't you? I'm just wondering what you mean. You do look quite young, too."

Hilary looked back out of the window at the working girls below her and sighed with melancholy. "I guess I do owe you since you saved my sorry butt back there." She leaned back on the bed and took her knees into her arms like a child. she looked child-like too. She may be in her late teens but she still had the appearance and vulnerablity of a girl ten years her junior. "Well, I had a kind of fallout with my parents. A major fallout. There was so much expected of me but no one ever wanted to know what I wanted." She looked at them. "Do you know what I mean?" They both nodded. It was part of being a teenager for most. "Well, I wanted to be a fashion editorialist but they didn't care. They wanted me to be a big successful doctor just like them and said that I was only eighteen and couldn't possibly know what I want in life and in the end, I got tired of it. I packed up my bags and left a month ago with all the money in my bank and came down here. I'm from the Orange County," she added with a wink. "So my money lasted me quite well but now it's running short I decided I need some extra cash until I find myself a half decent job. A friend of mine that I met suggested I try hooking up with some one she knew who could give me a job easily. I had no idea she meant a pimp but I was desperate. So tonight was my first time and I just freaked out." She laughed to herself. "Some big girl I am, huh?"

"That's some story." Tala said. "But if you ask me I think you're better off going back to your parents. They're probably worried about you."

Hilary smiled wryly. "Yep, I thought you'd say that. Everyone does. They think I'm just another daddy's girl who didn't get a pony for her birthday." She kicked herself off the bed and smoothed her skirt. "I need to change into some proper clothes when I get home." She twirled in front of the mirror. "If only they could see me now…"

"You don't normally dress like that, do you?" Kai asked.

She stuck out her tongue. "Are you kidding me? I'm a nice conservative girl! Well guys, it's been fun but I think I oughta head off home and let you get some sleep for tomorrows drive." She waved as she walked out of the door. "Thanks again and bon voyage."

The door shut quietly behind her.

"That was…odd…" Tala commented.

"It was a bit…but we should take her advice and get to bed so we at least get a few hours sleep." Kai looked out of the window that Hilary had been so drawn too. "Then we can get out of this God forsaken place."

Tala saw no reason to object.

* * *

Please review! 

jellybean-kitty xx


	4. Added Baggage

Hey guys! I hope all who read this like this chapter! Once again, it shows more stroy progressions and a little bit of insight to the characters thoughts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

Added Baggage

"_This morning it has been reported that three college students from the wealthy town of Laguna Beach, Orange County have disappeared in a seeming attempt to run away from home. It was discovered that Kai Hiwatari and friend Tala Valkov have packed up most of their belongings from their college dormitories and took mutual friend, Garnet Granger, along with the, leaving no word back home from either of the young adults. The discovery was made in ht early hours of this morning as students retunred from a dance and discovered the runaways had failed to turn up there and also back in their dormitories afterwards. It is alleged that they've taken Kai Hiwatari's four by four jeep with their destination unknown. Parents and guardians of all three runaways are offering rewards for any information regarding their wherabouts._

"_Kai is described as being around five foot eight with two tone bangs and a physically fit physique. His eyes are crimson in colour and he has a small scar on the back of his right hand from a childhood accident._

"_Tala is a five foot ten red head with a lean and toned body. His eyes are light blue and he has no defining marks that are noticeable._

"_The female, Garnet, is five foot four and described as pretty. Her hair is black and her eyes sky blue. Her parents also describe her as having curves but not appearing fat._

"_All are twenty, twenty one in age and if anyone has any information please don't hesitate to contact the Laguna Beach Police Station at-"_

Tala turned the television off. He didn't want to hear anymore. They'd been reported missing sooner than he thought. That meant that Garnet's body would be discovered sooner than he thought. He was no fool. He knew she would be found sooner or later. He's been hoping it would be later.

"I had a rough time getting to sleep last night," was the first thing Kai said to him the whole morning. They'd both been awake since eight o'clock to get ready for their eight thirty departure. Neither had said a word to the other, each lost in their own thoughts. "Every time I closed my eyes I kept seeing her face, distorted in a scream, blood everywhere. It's funny, after we buried her, I tried to pretend everything was okay, everything was fine. So we killed a girl, big deal. But when you're trying to sleep, when its dark. That's when it hits you. That's when you see her face."

Tala looked at Kai. He could see his friend had large round circles under his eyes. "I dreamed about her. I dreamed that it was me in the boot and she was driving in the car. I felt her fear. It was real." He put a hand on Kai's shoulder. "But it's daylight now, remember? We can't see her now. She's not here anymore. She only comes at night."

Kai nodded. "That's what worries me. Now that we've murdered her, have we murdered sleep too? Are we going to go insane with the guilt?"

Tala pushed Kai's bag towards him and picked up his own. "Why don't we worry about that when we reach Mexico? Did you get to the cashline this morning?" He was vaguely aware of Kai leaving the room for a brief five minute interval but hadn't asked why.

"Yeah, I lifted my limit." He put his hand into his pocket and produced a wad of notes. "You can take it since you seem to be charge of the money anyway."

The two of them left them room, not bothering to make their beds or tidy after themselves. In a place like that there was no point. The next occupant probably wouldn't care less if the rotten corpse of a sewer rat was lying in the bed next to him. On his other side would probably be the not so rotten corpse of a female prostitute.

When they dropped their keys off they were greeted by another receptionist; a different one to the girl they'd encountered the night before. The new recruit was an older looking woman who'd watched the best of her years fly out the window while she looked after a handful of her kids as her husband hit the bottle - and occasionally them.

"Thanks for staying at L.A Confidential, where you're every action is confidential." She didn't even look up at them from her magazine. She merely snatched the keys away and turned the page.

Tala didn't bother with any wisecracks. He'd had too little sleep and it was too early in the morning. "Where are we going to get a car?"

Kai shrugged. "What about the place that cab driver told us? Ronny's?"

"Do you have any idea where it is?"

Kai shook his head. "But I'm sure some one around here does. Maybe not the dinosaur marking the reception but we'll find it."

Kai pushed open the doors that let him escape the clutches of the most luxurious place between a dumpster and the derelict building next door. The air that hit him had a twinge of pollutant in it mixed with the regular smell of morning: coffee, bakery, men's cologne. The street looked a lot nicer in the daylight but not nice enough to save it from looking like the back road to Hell.

"Alex? Paul?" A familiar voice asked. Kai looked up and saw Hilary standing on the street in front of them with a duffel bag at her feet. She was dressed much more appropriately than the last time they'd seen her. She had on simple jeans and an even simpler cheque shirt. "Umm, I'm Hilary. We met last night? Yeah well I have a favour to ask you guys. Take me with you, to Mexico." She looked at both of them pleadingly. "Please take me out of here. I don't want to have to work the streets at night; I want to start a new life. I don't each much and I have money that I can contribute. Plus, when we get to Mexico I'll leave you alone and you'll never have to hear from me again."

Tala shook his head. "I'm sorry but we don't even know you."

Hilary grabbed the front of his t-shirt in desperation. "You don't understand. I _can't_ live here anymore, I just can't. Please take me with you."

He plucked her hands of him. "Go home, then. Where you belong."

Hilary's head hung in defeat. "I guess you're right. I'm not meant to be out here, am I?"

Kai thought for a second and an idea hit him faster than a light bulb turning on. "Will you excuse us for a few seconds Hilary?" She nodded and he pulled Tala aside. "This is too good an opportunity to pass up. Think about it, we can use her passport to rent a car plus if we have an extra passenger with us it'll look less suspicious. Especially is she's not calling us by our real names. I think we should let her come." He looked over at Hilary who was watching them hopefully. "Besides, she's kind of cute. I imagine she knows how to handle herself if she needs to use her charm to get out of any messy situations."

"Like the one last night?"

"She got us to help, didn't she?"

Tala thought this over. Kai had a good point. Hilary could prove to be useful to them. She also seemed like the kind of girl he could get along with. "Okay. Let her come."

"Fancy coming on a road trip with us then?" Kai asked, taking Hilary's bag from her in a chivalrous fashion.

"Seriously? You mean it?" She clasped her hands in delight and flung herself around the necks of both boys. "Thank you so much!"

"There's one condition," Kai added. Hilary's happiness faded as she tried to think what such a price would be. Had she misjudged them as the kind who wouldn't take advantage? "We use _your_ passport to rent the car."

The relief on Hilary's face was visible. "Sure," she smiled. She didn't bother asking what the problem was with their own. Why ruin her chances of getting out of this dump and getting a new life? "No problem. Where are you renting a car?"

"We've been told Ronny's but we have no idea where that is," Tala said. "I don't suppose you've heard of it."

"It's cropped up once or twice. I'm pretty sure it's not far down main street. It's pretty prominent from a lot of people on the night circuit." She frowned and looked as if she wanted to say something but thought better. Then her curiosity got the better of her. "If you're on a road trip how come you don't have a car already? And why Ronny's? Please don't take this the wrong way but you two don't look like you're short of money."

"Do you want to come with us or not?" Tala demanded, glaring at her.

"Come on, _Paul_." Kai said. "She's only asking a question. We don't have a car because we had to return it. Our lease was up. Secondly, our _parents_ aren't strapped for cash. We, however, are on a very tight budget and one that's almost completely spent."

"Oh. That seems fair enough." She stopped and looked across the street. "I think that's the place we're wanted to go." She glanced back at them both. "It looks _very_ classy. No scummy sorts here, no siree."

"And then there was us," Tala smirked.

"What are you talking about, Paul?" Hilary put an arm around both their shoulders and led them across the street, ignoring the bleeping horns as she walked in front of cars. "We're the classiest people who ever walked the streets of L.A."

Kai couldn't help but throw a bemused look at Tala. This trip could prove to be interesting with Hilary on board now. She seemed as if she knew the way the streets ran or she was just a fool. Either way, it was refreshing to him in contrast with the sorority girls he knew and was used to being around. Not that he doubted for a second Hilary would have been a sorority girl if she'd have went to college. The looks she had and the attitude would have been accepted, if not maybe scowled upon on occasion.

She let go of the two boys and walked right up to where an employee was waxing one of the display cars. She leaned both hands on the bonnet and smiled at him. He seemed flustered at first and let the cigarette he was smoking fall from his mouth. He wiped some of the sweat of his brow with his greasy hand, hitched up his trousers and walked around the side of the car to stand next to her.

"Can I help you, missy?" He asked the question with obviously strained politeness that he only ever gave his female customers. Hilary didn't fall for it for a second. She'd dealt with these types before.

"Hi Ronny, it is Ronny, right?" He nodded. "My friends and I here would like to rent a car for the next few days. That is, if it's not a problem?" She smiled sweetly at him. "We're also sort of on a _real_ low budget so if you could do us a little deal that would be _swell_." She turned around and winked at Tala and Kai Ronny led them to a selection of cars that looked as if they'd seen better days. Around thirty years ago. Some were rusty and only a few looked as if they'd be able to hold out the journey they had planned for it. "We're going to Mexico, you see and we need a car that'll get us there and back again in one piece."

Ronny nodded and showed them one of his 'latest' models. It was an newer looking – but not that new - Ford model that was perhaps a T. It was a dark blue colour that was obviously recently painted. Kai assumed it was to hide the rust. Overall, it looked as if it would hope out on the interstate journey they had planned. Also, it probably wouldn't be missed if they didn't return it. Ronny probably was well prepared for situations like that.

"This old girl will take you anyway you want to you and back again. I've got her fixed up so she runs on unleaded petrol," he winked at Hilary, "it's better for the environment. "I know how you kids like your music so she's got a radio built in but you can't play any Cd's or those cassettes since it's busted up in the cassette player. She's also got great air conditioning for when the heat rises in Mexico. She's yours to rent at just two hundred dollars for the weekend." He winked again like he had a tic in his eye. "At Ronny's the weekend starts on Friday and ends on Monday." He grinned hopefully at them.

"Super," Tala said without smiling back and dug into the pockets of his jeans for his wallet.

"I'll need to see ID from one of you," Ronny said as he accepted the money. Hilary handed over her passport with a brief smile at Kai and Tala to let them know everything was going well. Her passport was perfectly legitimate, the smile said.

Ronny looked over everything quickly and then went inside his shop. The three of them stood outside in an almost but not quite awkward silence. Hilary stared at her feet mostly as she felt the two watch her carefully. It seemed to her as if they were scrutinizing her, though maybe not as harsh as that. Perhaps sussing her out would be a better phrase. She looked up and saw that, yes, they were watching her intently as if they were trying to read her mind. It was unnerving. On her lip she tasted a speck of blood and realised in her nervous state of mind she'd been biting it. She wondered if asking to come along with them was a bad idea. She didn't even know them or what they were about. For all she knew, they could be serial rapists who were running from the law and seeking refuge in Mexico. It scared her to think what she didn't know about them. Although that could be why they were watching her so carefully. They didn't know anything about her either, except she was a runaway and even that could be a lie. She could be an expert thief who would steal their money while they slept. She wasn't, but they didn't know that.

Ronny interrupted the silence with the rattling of car keys. "Everything's checked out fine and you're free to go." He jokingly wagged his finger at them. "If anything goes wrong I've got this little lady's address to complain too." There was nervous laughter all round. "Bring it back by Monday and everything will be fine, though."

He tossed Tala the keys and retreated back into the inner part of the shop but Tala could still sense him staring from the dirty window. He was watching them, wanted to see them leave. He was no fool. He probably knew they weren't going to bring it back. Or was he just being too paranoid?

"I'll drive first," Tala said as he picked up his bag and tossed it leisurely into the trunk. "Then we'll take it in turns. Can you drive, Hilary?" Hilary guiltily shook her head. "Don't worry about it. You can navigate when we need you too, okay? The plan is to make as few stops as possible so we can get to Mexico before the weekend ends. That way we can be back in time for college on Monday. How does that suit?" There was no notable objections. "Then off we go."

They three unlikely travellers got into the car, the two boys in the front and Hilary in the back behind the passenger seat. Ronny was still watching them as Tala started the ignition and drove out of his establishment. Tala fought the urge to flick his fingers up at him. The guys was seriously creeping him out. The whole situation creeped him out. It wasn't the way he imagine spending one his last years in life before fully entering the adult world of work. Neither did Kai, he imagined, who was quietly looking at the map with a withdrawn look on his face. For a moment, Tala wondered what he was thinking but thought against it. If it was anything like his own thoughts then he didn't want to hear it.

"Keep on this road for now Tala." Kai said. "Then turned onto the route 40 to Arizona. It'll probably be sign posted. You alright in the back, Hilary?"

"Yep!" She didn't look at him but seemed to be carefully watching the scenery of the past month in her life leave her forever. It didn't seem as if it was bothering her at all to be leaving it behind her. Why would it? From growing up as a privileged young girl to suddenly living with the lowest sort of people you could com across it was hard to not want to leave it. "Couldn't be better!"

Kai nodded. It turned out that Hilary had come in quite useful after all. If it hadn't been for her, they'd probably have had to resort to adding grand theft auto to their list of crimes committed in the past twenty four hours, not that it would have made much difference. Once they discovered Garnet's body they wouldn't have to worry about any other things they'd done in the past. That would be enough to condemn them.

Garnet…

When he closed his eyes he still saw her face in its final seconds of life. It had evolved. There were now the first traces of decay around her cheekbones he could almost feel the maggots eating her skin sooner than they should. He wondered if her body would be already rotting by the time it's discovered. It was a macabre thought but it still ran through his mind. He also wondered how long they had until they found it, how long they had to get to freedom. It worried him how little time he knew they had.

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	5. Warped Angel

Hey guys! This is just another insight into the charaters thoughts as they story progresses. You'll start to see a little bit of mental deterioration here so I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

Warped Angel 

It was approaching one o'clock in the afternoon when the broadcast interrupted the radio station they were listening. At first, Hilary had protested but on further listening she had settled down into a trance: as most people are when news bulletins interrupt the middle of songs.

"_We interrupt this station for a special report," _a male voice droned from the speakers_. "The body of missing girl Garnet Granger was discovered at eleven o'clock this morning by a local dog walker. The bound and bloody body of the Laguna Beach girl was found in a shallow grave. Medical examiners confirmed that she had suffered grievous bodily harm before her death and which ranged from broken bones in the arm, legs and rib to various and serious bruising. It is thought that she was abducted by friends Kai Hiwatari and Tala Ivanov some time in the early evening believing she was being driven to her college's delayed Spring Fling. A possible theory is that she was bound and then locked in the truck of Hiwatari's four by four car. Evidence has shown the car had stopped briefly at a dirt track just outside Laguna forest and then travelled along the west road before colliding with a tree. The impact of the collision is thought to have killed Garnet. _

"_The parents of Garnet are said to be distraught and surprised: Hiwatari and Ivanov have apparently been close friends to the girl for years and the sudden turn of their nature was impossible to foresee._

"_So far there has been no sighting of either the vehicle or the two suspects but both are now wanted for murder by Laguna Beach police and the public are warned to keep a good distance from them as they could be potentially dangerous."_

There was silence in the car as Tala drove on and then the radio station continued to play its usual stream of up tempo songs that listeners adore so much.

"Just goes to show you can't trust anyone," Hilary said after while. The mood in the car conflicted with the tunes that the DJ was spewing out like sour milk. The song of choice at that moment had been The Beatle's 'With A Little Help From My Friends.' On any other occasion, Hilary would have liked this song. Maybe even sang song to it in her out of key soprano voice. She wasn't in the mood for singing. Stories like that one scared her. To think that people could turn so quickly on one another was a haunting thought, like an endless rain cloud over your head. "I don't understand how people can do that to each other."

"Maybe that's because you don't understand the circumstances. Judge not lest ye be judged. Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins and all that jazz." Tala's insightful words caused her to laugh harshly. "Seriously though, you weren't there and you have no idea what went down with her. That's why I never judge people. For all you know, it could have been a great big accident and they panicked."

"Yes," Hilary nodded head in mock agreement. "I know whenever I panic I bury my friends. Think about it though, her life is over. She'll never get the chance to be all she wanted to be. All her dreams from childhood will never be fulfilled because she was robbed of that chance."

For the first time in hours, Kai opened his mouth. "Don't you think they're now in the same position? Your so called murderers?" Her mouth made a series of contractions as she tired to think of an argument to counter this but gave up. "They're lives are as much over as hers and not only that, they'll be condemned criminals when all they wanted to do was maybe carry out a college prank."

"You don't know that they did!"

"You don't know that they didn't."

A second passed in which she said nothing. Then she smiled in defeat. "You know Alex; you're pretty good at getting your point across. Remind me _never_ to try and argue with you again." Looking out of her window, she said quietly, "If you guys can keep a secret I'll tell you why I'm so passionate about these things. When I was about four or five, my sister was brutally murdered by her boyfriend and then buried in my backyard. Once day, while I was out playing in it, my dog starting digging and then he pulled out her head: or what was left of it."

Kai looked around at her with genuine sympathy. "I'm sorry. That must have been harsh."

"I'm sure it would have been if I had a sister." She burst out laughing and covered her mouth with her hands to suppress her girlish giggles. "I'm sorry but you should have seen the looks on your faces! They were priceless."

Tala smirked to himself behind the wheel; impresses that Hilary had a sense of humour as morbid as his. Rummaging through the glove compartment, Kai found an old rag that was probably used to wipe steamed windows in its earlier years and through it at Hilary's forehead. It hit its target with a soft force. It hadn't been five seconds until Hilary had tossed it back to him. Other girls would have been repulsed but Hilary obviously was a lot less superficial than the ones Kai and Tala had grown up with. She was a refreshing change and her carefree attitude was wiping off on them.

Kai especially was almost mystified by her sorceress tendencies. That must be it. She certainly wasn't the prettiest girl he'd ever met but by no means was she ugly or unattractive. The girls who inhabited Laguna Beach had always been stunning to look it: it was an unwritten law. That was where the beautiful people lived. In comparison, Hilary wasn't as attractive but she was pretty damn close. Kai suspected that in her hometown of the Orange County she was probably hot stuff. If it wasn't her looks that did it her sparkling personality certainly would do the job. He'd not even known her for twenty for hours yet it seemed as if they'd been friends for their entire lives. It had to be witchcraft.

The white witch's stomach roared throughout the small car. She laid a sheepish hand on it. "I think I'm hungry."

"Well stop for something to eat in an hour or less," Tala said, keeping his eyes on the road. We've just left Riverside and entered San Diego not long ago. I'd guess we'll make it into Arizona within the hour and then we can take a rest stop."

"Thank God," she said. "I think my stomach's going to chain itself to the parliament buildings in protest if it doesn't get fed soon!"

Kai quirked an eyebrow. "Yes because I'm sure that can happen. Where do you want to eat?"

Hilary shrugged. "Somewhere greasy and fattening that's hygiene is something to be desired. I want to get a hamburger that's gonna clog my arteries and give me heart disease before I'm thirty."

"So McDonald's it is then." Kai grimaced. "There's something about that food that makes me want to through it right back up again. I think it's the fact that the "beef" has been processed so many times it's pretty unrecognisable."

She hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Yeah but you haven't been slumming it for the past month, rich boy. Fast food's been a luxury to me, even if it is rat burgers I'm eating." She licked her lips. "Yummy…"

Tala shook his head in disgust but said nothing. He would be lying if he said he was completely surprised by her attitude but he would also be lying if he said he completely wasn't. In other circumstances, he could see himself perhaps being friends with a girl like Hilary although, despite her strange attractiveness, he could never see himself dating her. She was too much like Garnet but not like her enough at the same time. Part of the attraction for the latter girl was the fact that Garnet never seemed to care about what people said about her because she could – and quite rightly so – accuse them of jealousy. He got the impression that although Hilary would take an insult in her stride, inside it would tear her apart. Garnet's beauty was also clearly on the outside and, yes he knew it was superficial, that was most important to Tala. Hilary had inner beauty and he could see that, but what was the point in inner beauty if no one will ever really care for it? Not that her face wasn't pretty, it was. But it wasn't pretty enough for him. Kai would like some one like that. Tala would never understand but Kai had always, throughout the course of his teen life, chosen the less pretty but nicer girl than the cheerleading bitch.

That didn't explain his interest in Garnet.

Unless she had just been an infatuation for Kai; a strange one to break the mould of his normal dating routine. It must have ended when she did.

Not for Tala, it hadn't. He could still see her when he closed his eyes. She was still smiling. She understood what had happened and knew it was an accident. Never was he blamed, not by Garnet. In death, she had blossomed into the girl he'd always wanted her to be: sweet, kind, considerate. Now, when he saw her, her hauntingly angelic face, her nose no longer was upturned but she was looking straight into his eyes as if he was an equal; a human being just like her. In life, she'd never looked at anyone like that. In her beauty, she'd exalted herself from those around her, blinded by her superior demeanour. Unless he'd never heard about it, she had never once worried that it wasn't actually her that people 'liked', but it was what she pretended to be. Now she couldn't pretend anymore and she didn't even have to.

He looked round to Kai and felt his hands tighten on the steering wheel; his heart began to beat like a drummer whose beat had been lost from the conductor's in the orchestra. In the passenger seat, Garnet was studying the map carefully. Then she turned around and smiled at him, her face at first was an angel's and it glowed. But before Tala's eyes, it began to deteriorate. Her skin peeled back from the bone and he could see that inside her mouth maggots where feeding on the decay. Her toothy grin widened and a few of the larvae fell out onto the seat from her yellowed teeth. The smell hit him. It was the smell of death and decaying flesh. It made him gag. A small choked scream left his lips and he looked away onto the road. When he looked back again she had gone and Kai was sitting in her place, looking at him with his eyes full of concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked. He was frowning but underneath it Tala could see that it was more than his welfare Kai was worried about. His crimson eyes shifted nervously from him to Hilary to see if she had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. It seemed as if she had. "Maybe you should let me drive?"

Tala, with one hand, wiped the icy sweat of his brow an felt his brown hair matt on his forhead. He could feel his pulse racing beside the car. His eyes fixed ahead of him. He was scared to see the warped form of his angel again. He couldn't bear that sight. He took a few deep breaths and tried to compose himself.

"I'm fine." His voice was shaky and his smile was even shakier. "I think it's all that talk of rat burgers that's making me feel sick."

Hilary put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped, his heard jerked round to stare at her with wild eyes. She recoiled from it. "You look like you've seen a ghost," she said hesitantly. "What happened?"

He turned around again and watched the tarmac pass by. "Nothing."

The tone in his voice made her question him no further. She looked at Kai and he held her scared gaze for a few seconds before shrugging it off and looking back onto the map. She could tell that he was spooked too. Obviously, Tala wasn't one for spontaneous screaming and to say that that worried her slightly was the litotes of the century. Just what kind of people was she travelling with? One was the next upcoming Member of Parliament and the other was a screaming maniac. Looking closer, she could still see his eyes in the rear view mirror. There was fear in them, genuine fear. Maybe he'd been dreaming and had a nightmare of some kind. She'd heard about people who suffered from hallucinations and maybe he was just one of them. That thought made her relax again in the gentle heat of the upcoming summer. Whatever he thought he'd seen was just a one off thing and it just so happened to have occurred when she was around. That was definitely it.

* * *

That was definitely not it. All the way along the high way to Arizona Tala had been as jittery as student waiting to sit their final exams. His eyes kept nervously darting over to the passenger seat which was making Kai nervous which made Hilary even more nervous than before. Without realising it, her hand had clutched at the handle for the door; just in case she had to make a dramatic exit. It turns out that such thoughts were unnecessary as just as Tala had predicted, they had crossed the Arizona border within the hour and were on the way to the nearest service station to stop for a rest and lunch. Hilary figured that Kai would probably take over driving too and Tala would take the backseat so he could sleep. Which would mean she would be left alone in the car with him. Well, not exactly alone but the only one who wasn't in an unconscious slumber. Despite the heat she shivered. In her gut she could feel that something wasn't right. There was clearly something wrong with the two of them and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know what. 

A dust signpost indicated that there was a service station half a mile away. Her stomach began to rumble and she placed a tentative hand on it. For some reason, she didn't want to disturb the boys any further. For all she knew, Tala might go over the edge that he was dangling to closely too.

Kai turned round in his seat to face her. The expression on his face was unreadable and that worried Hilary more than ever. "We'll be stopping for lunch in a few minutes." His crimson eyes seemed to pierce her soul as they looked at her carefully and then she realised what he was doing. He was trying to suss her out; see what she was thinking; how she was reacting to Tala. She didn't understand why.

She was pretty sure her smile looked fake but there was no way for him to know that anyway, she hoped. "That sounds great."

Kai grunted and scanned her for a few moments more before turning back into his seat

Hilary saw the curved arc of the "M" in McDonald's approach and her stomach roared one final time. Aware that she was blushing, she rolled down the window to take in the smell of greasy food that she'd grown to love. The car pulled into the carpark and the instant it stopped, Hilary dove out to stretch her legs but also to escape the confinements the atmosphere was giving her. A few seconds later she was joined by Kai and a more relaxed Tala. For the first time, Hilary noticed the bags under his eyes that looked as big as dollar coins. He looked as if he hadn't slept at all for two weeks. An inexplicable wave of relief washed over her as she dismissed her fears. It was like when she was a child. At night, she could be terrified of the monster under the bed and stay awake all night in fear that it might eat her while she slept but in the daytime, when the sun shone she knew how ridiculous she was being.

She dug a hand into her jeans and took out a simple clack purse. "I'm buying. It's the least I can do."

Kai put his hand on hers. "I'm sorry but where I'm from it's always the gentlemen who pay." He smirked. "Besides, you got us a great deal on the car."

Not knowing wither to be offended or grateful, Hilary put her purse away. "Well if you're sure…get me a Big Mac with a chocolate shake."

Kai nodded. "Tala?"

"I don't care. Food's food."

Shrugging, Kai went through the double doors and into the restaurant leaving Hilary alone with Tala. She bit her lip nervously. Her mind was racing for things to say but none of them seemed right. The taste of copper filled her mouth and she realised she'd bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed.

"Umm…are you feeling better?"

Tala looked at her with weary eyes. "I guess. I think I need to sleep, is all." He smiled wryly. "Too much coffee."

"You should take the backseat. That way you can stretch out or whatever."

He nodded and an awkward silence fell over them, both not knowing what to say in the company of the other. They were relieved when Kai came back with the food and broke the quietness with the promise of returning with straws and napkins. They found a quite bench and sat eating their food quietly. Hilary could see that for both of the boys, this wasn't their ideal cuisine. Kai stared at his burger for quite some time as if he half expected it to move. Eventually he took a bite from it, grimaced and swallowed. He repeated the process until the entire burger was demolished. He made short work of the fried and coke as if he was making up for lost time. Tala seemed to have lost his appetite. He picked at a few chips, took a few bites of his burger then condoled himself by drinking the coke. Hilary felt like a pig at the rate she'd chowed down her entire meal before the boys had even started.

"That's quite possibly the worst thing I've ever eaten," Kai commented solemnly. "Next time I'm choosing where we eat. Fast and food should never go in the same sentence."

Hilary rolled her eyes good naturedly. "_Great_. We'll be stuck in some fancy five star restaurants where they play classical music and you have to wait two hours just to get a glass of water."

"_That's_ what you call service." Tala bunched up his rubbish and threw his scraps into the garbage can beside them. He tossed his keys to Kai. "You're driving."

He caught them swiftly. "No problem but I'm not stopping for toilet stops so if you want to relieve yourself now is the time to do it. I want to cross the New Mexico border by eight o'clock tonight and then we'll find a hotel. Five minutes and then we all meet back here."

Less that that, they were back in the car with Kai beginning to pull out of the service station after filling up the car with more gas. This time, he had accepted Hilary's contribution. She sat beside him looking at the map. Orienteering had never been her strong point. She looked behind her and saw Tala was already lying with his eyes closed in the rear. He looked remarkably calmer in his near slumber state than he had the past hour. The image of a baby crept into her mind. He had laid his jacket over his upper body and lay his head against the window.

She felt Kai looking at her and greeted his eyes with a smile. "New Mexico, here we come!

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	6. The Bitch and The Deer

Well that's my exams all over for a few more months which means I should have more time to make sure my stories are update according to my schedule. I've done well so far:P

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

The Bitch and The Deer 

Hilary had fallen asleep. Kai's rough calculation predicted it had to have been between twenty and thirty minutes after Tala had. She'd given no warning but after ten minutes of saying nothing, Kai had discovered that the silence was due to her vacation to the land of nod. She was remarkably more cute than Tala when she slept. Her arms were folded across her chest in a huffy childlike manner and her face appeared to be pouting even more so. Kai felt himself smiling softly as he watched her out of the corner of his eye. He'd not properly looked at her yet; he'd not had the chance. She was very pretty; not what he'd call beautiful but very goddamn close. There was a unique flair about her that seemed like a drug no one could ever get enough of, like heroin for heart. Her skin was pale but flawless and it looked so smooth. He wanted to touch it, to feel the silkiness himself. Under normal circumstances he'd probably already have turned on his charm that seemed to always get him his ladies. Unfortunately, running from a murder was _not_ what Kai would list as a normal circumstance. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to drag Hilary into the mess anymore than she already unwittingly was.

She stirred and opened a sleepy eye. She stretched, back arched liked a cat's and smiled drowsily. "How long have I been asleep?"

"No more than an hour and a half," Kai answered as she yawned herself back to the land of the living. "We're not too far from New Mexico. I think if we keep up this speed then we should be there by seven thirty. Of course, there might be some traffic as it approaches rush hour but I'm not too familiar with the traits of these roads."

Hilary took the map out of the glove compartment and traced the pencil line with her finger. "I might be wrong, but isn't this the sort of quieter road? I don't think it's the main one…then again I'm not one for reading maps."

"It is a by-road. Like a said, Ta...Paul and I are on a very tight schedule so we planned this route taking into consideration traffic and popularity of the roads."

Hilary sat back and watched him carefully and with intrigue. "Do you always do that?" Kai looked away from the road for an instant and Hilary could see he was confused. "Talk so formally, I mean. It's like you're giving an inauguration speech or something. You should relax and be…more causal!"

"Like you?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. "Miss Hooker?"

She folded her arms in mock insult and pointed her nose into the air. "I don't believe that was called for. Everyone makes mistakes in their lifetime, right Alex?"

_Don't I know it_. "Sure."

Her laughter lightened the air in the car like a bell. "Tell me about yourself. I know practically nothing about you and you anything about me. Let's get to know each other since there's nothing else to do. Have you always lived in Mexico?"

For a moment, Kai considered telling her nothing true and making up his entire life. Everything else so far had been a lie. There was something in her ruby eyes, though, that told him to be as truthful as he can. Liars had to have a goddamn good memory and he was sure that Hilary was certainly more intelligent than she first seemed. If he slipped up too often, she was bound to point it out and maybe even become suspicious.

On the radio, Elvis Presley began to sing 'Suspicious Minds.' Kai laughed to himself.

"Well, Paul and I have always been friends. We originally grew up in Russia where I lived with my grandfather and he lived with his parents. It was…a normal childhood, I guess. We were wealthy but never spoiled. At least, not to the extent of some people." He glanced at her briefly to see if she was listening to him. She was. Intently. "Our two families had always been friends, well, in business. They were partners, you see. So when the time came to broaden their horizons they chose to expand to America and that's when we moved to Mexico."

"Mexico isn't in America, dummy." Hilary giggled. "Didn't you tell your parents?"

"I _know_. But Mexico seemed to have better living prospects for us while the company continued to be successful in the northern part of the land." He cleared his throat as he realised that he was babbling on about something Hilary really didn't care about. She wanted to know about _him_ and as much as the family business concerned him – he hadn't been fooled when he was allowed to study his own choice of course at college, he knew he would one day inherit the company – it was never a passion of his. He had never liked the idea of his life being drawn out for him. "Anyway, I went to school in Mexico's finest boarding school – with Paul, or course. And then we both went to the same college but studying different courses. I'm majoring in business management and Paul in chemistry." He grimaced. "Personally, I was thankful to leave all that science crap behind when I left school but Paul couldn't get enough of it." _Shortly after that we kidnapped and murdered one of our best friends. Now we're on our way to Mexico with you, but let's not go there,_ Kai thought.

Hilary laughed heartily. The sun shone through the windscreen and made her entire face light up. "You and me both. Though I have to admit, science was always one of my strongest subjects. Particularly chemistry. I suppose that was just as well since my parents were so keen on my becoming a doctor just like them." She laughed again but this time nervously. "Sorry, I was asking about you."

Kai shook his head. "There's not much more to tell. I'm pretty sure your life was much more interesting."

"Weeelll," Hilary folded her arms and looked up at the car's material grey roof as she collected all her memories. "I grew up in the Orange Country and I always have. My parents were doctors – both of them. I had a typical rich kid upbringing. You know… parties, boyfriends, prom, etcetera. But I was never really happy. I always knew that my life was only what my parents would let it be. My real passion was fashion. In fact, I was pretty damn good at designing clothes and such stuff that I'd sold one or two of my ideas to my friend's parent's fashion labels. That never really made my parents happy. They thought that it was a road that would take me no where. They _never_ really cared about what I wanted, only that I was making the family look good. As you know, that's when I ran away." She tilted her head and looked at Kai with a glint in her eye. "That's where you came into the story. You know the rest anyway. Now, after a month of struggling, I'm on my way to Mexico with two complete strangers and have lost all traces of the sense I was brought up with." Despite her serious tone, Kai could sense the faint trail of humour behind it. So faint he almost had to be a bloodhound to sense it.

"You know my life story. Surely we're not strangers anymore?"

Hilary smiled. "I guess we're not." She was silent for a few seconds as she looked at him closely. Kai could feel her eyes and it unnerved him. "But I still think there're things you're not telling me but, hey, we've only just met so I can't blame you." Her eyes widened as the song changed on the radio. Her entire face lit up as the recognition dawned on her. "Hey, I love this song!"

"I know this song…" Kai recalled it was Meredith Brooks' '_Bitch'_. Garnet used to play it all the time when she was getting ready to go out. He smiled fondly as he remembered her singing into her hairbrush at the tender age of twelve, not quite understanding what the song was about but knowing enough that it was her personified.

"I _hate_ this song!" Tala muttered from somewhere in the depths of the back seat.

"_I hate the world today," _Hilary sang, smiling. "_you're so good to me, I know, but I can't change. Try to tell you but you look at me like maybe I'm an angel underneath innocent and sweet…Yesterday I cried. Must have been relieved to see the softer side."_ Kai smiled at her singing, not entirely sure if she had the words right but not entirely caring either. She wasn't the best singer, or the worst but she looked as if she was having a hell of a time doing it – like a drunken person on karaoke. It was cute. "Come on, Alex. You _must_ know this bit."

Kai shook his head, laughing at her eagerness.

"Spoil sport!" She stuck her tongue out at him. "_I'm a bitch. I'm a lover, I'm a child, I'm a mother, I'm a sinner, I'm a saint. I do not fee l ashamed." _She tugged playfully at his arm to join in but he declined once again. "_I'm your hell, I'm your dream. I'm nothing in between you know you wouldn't want it any other way." _The way Kai was watching her filled her with an unusual feeling. It was a mixture of intrigue and wonder but also uncertainty. It was no surprise to her that he was intimidated by her eagerness; most people were. But inside that uncertainty could she see desire? Not for her, maybe but what she represented? She was freedom. Freedom was her and was that something he wanted too?

"_So take me as I am," _Meredith serenaded them both as Hilary mouthed the words instead of singing. "_This may mean you'll have to be a stronger man. Rest assured that when I start to make you nervous and I'm going to extremes, tomorrow I will change and today won't mean a thing."_

Hilary joined in again with her good friend Meredith. "_I'm a bitch. I'm a lover, I'm a child, I'm a mother, I'm a sinner, I'm a saint. I do not feel ashamed. I'm your hell, I'm your dream. I'm nothing in between you know you wouldn't want it any other way. _I thought you said you know this song!"

"I do but that doesn't mean I want to make a complete ass of myself by singing it." He shrugged. "Besides it's a girl's song. What kind of guy would sing a girl's song?"

"You're among friends here! Don't be so up your own backside. _Just when you think you got me figured out the seasons already changing. I think it's cool you do what you do and don't try to save me. _Join in with this bit and I promise I won't make you sing again._"_

Kai rolled his eyes. "_I'm a bitch, I'm a tease, I'm a goddess on my knees when you hurt when you suffer I'm an angel undercover," _Hilary smiled and joined in with the duet. "_I've been numb, I'm revived. Can't say I'm not alive. You know you wouldn't want it any other way."_

"That is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever heard. Well done guys." Tala smirked to himself in the backseat.

Hilary folded her arm underneath her and bowed to Kai, smiling. "Thank you for doing me the honour."

"Just don't ask me to do it again."

Hilary grimaced. "Trust me, I won't. I'm almost sorry I got you to join in."

They looked at each other and laughed. "Thanks, Hilary," he said, solemnly.

The radio announcer introduced the next song which was one Kai had never heard of. Thankfully, that meant he would se saved from another wailing of song words on his part. Singing had certainly never been one of his many strong points despite his musical ability. Hilary seemed as if the song was a stranger to her too. Thank God. Kai wondered if she wouldn't have tried to teach him it before the four minutes were up.

He chanced a glance at her.

She was now busy looking out of the window at the barren landscape. It wasn't much of a view but she still seemed fascinated by it, just as he was with her. There was something about her that was entrancing – like music for his eyes. She was like the wind – refreshing but untameable. He was sure that under her carefree demeanour, though, that there was a streak of vulnerability that she probably didn't know she had. It was only by chance that he and Tala had seen it on the night they first met. He had seen the fear in her eye but also the fire to fight it. Even if they hadn't turned up to save the day, Kai imagined she would still have found some way to get out of the situation.

Next he looked at Tala.

To his surprise, he saw that he was awake. Wide awake. With an unreadable look on his face he was watching Kai and didn't turn away when Kai caught him. He felt unnerved. Tala had been acting strange ever since this morning. Was his friend losing it? Could he be next? The worms under his skin crawled at the thought. What would happen to Hilary then? Poor carefree Hilary with no insight into the demons that were congregating in his mind. Was it possible that she could be next on their hit list? Perhaps he should look out for the next forest…

A deer suddenly ran across the road. Kai saw it at the last second and turned the wheel sharply to avoid it causing the car to halt in the middle of the road and Hilary to scream in surprise. The whole car shuddered as the occupants recovered from the unexpected stop. Kai saw that he was panting, his chest heaved up and down and his eyes were wide.

"Alex!" Hilary's voice was shrill. "What the hell happened?"

"I saw…" Kai looked around him and saw that there was no sign of life anywhere, let alone a deer, "...something. At least I thought I did but I guess not." He swallowed hard and turned the ignition on. He could have sworn that he'd seen the beast run in front of him, eyes so wide and wild that he could see the whites.

"Shit, Alex," was all Tala said.

"Shit, Alex indeed!" Hilary harrumphed, trying to hide the adrenaline pumping through her body that was making her heart race with the rest of the world. "Next time you think you see something, ask for confirmation, will you?"

Kai smiled without smiling. "I will."

He pulled the car onto the road again and they begun to drive. No one said anything. Except the DJ. He seemed to be having a hell of a time to himself, laughing and joking and playing songs like he didn't have a care in the world. If only everything was like that, as simple. What Kai wouldn't give to lead the life of the announcer, of Johnny Whathisname. Johnny Whatshisname who lived in a house with his beautiful wife and kids who didn't need to care about anything since he paid other people to do the worrying.

Kai half expected a police car to pull up beside him any moment now to arrest them with their cocky smiles and goodworkboy swaggers. They could then go home to their families and eat their meatloaf and watch their gameshows while he and Tala rotted in jail or fried on the chair. He didn't know which one he preferred.

Now that was a direct lie. He knew what he wanted and what he didn't want and what he didn't want was to die. It wasn't that he was scared of dying. He just didn't want to. He wanted to live his full life. He _deserved_ to live his full life. He'd never done anyone wrong before this and even then it had only been an accident. A fatal one, it seemed, but an accident none the less. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Garnet was now at peace while his whole world crumbled around him with the demons in his head reminding him of that fact every minute, every second. It was entirely her fault. Pure and simple. If she hadn't provoked him so much he wouldn't have lost it and none of this would be happening.

God, how he missed her…

He just wanted her to be there like she had been before. He could blame her all he wanted but he knew it was no use. He would love her always and forever, forever and for always. If not as lovers than at least as friends.

A sign told him that New Mexico was still quite a while away. He looked at the car's clock. He was fairly certain they'd get there by the end of the day.

* * *

Please review! 

jellybean-kitty


	7. Drink Talking

I'm sorry this chapter isn't too great and for all those who detest Kai/Hil, I'm ever more sorry but I can't resist!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

Drink Talking 

The light was beginning to fade as the border to New Mexico waved them by. Everyone was now awake but no one was really talking. There was nothing to be said. Occasionally, Hilary would hum along to a song but that was all. The gentle moan of the engine accompanied her since nothing else would. She sighed. Everyone seemed to be tired and withdrawn except her. She was pretty chipper in comparison. She couldn't wait to get into a nice, comfy bed and sleep.

"Are we going to stop soon?" She asked.

Kai nodded. "As soon as we get to a town we'll turn in for the night. We can go get some food and then maybe go to a bar or something for a few hours. I'd say if we get to bed by about twelve o'clock and then we'll be fine."

Hilary smiled. "A bar? Why, Alex Law I hope you know I'm underage!" The smile turned into a playful smirk. "I hope you aren't planning on intoxicating me."

"Of course he's not," Tala sat forward and ruffled Kai's black hair. "He doesn't need to get his girls drunk before he gets his girls. Isn't that right?"

Hilary saw that Tala seemed to back to his old self again; the old self that she'd met the night before. She was relieved and saw Kai was too, despite the messing up of his well kept hair. He moodily fixed it again but she could tell that inside he was in good humour. She could tell from the way his crimson eyes seemed to burn again that he was also cheering up. What he was cheering up from was beyond her but that wasn't really what mattered. Not to her anyway. The way she saw it was that so long as they got on until they reached Mexico everything would be fine. She wouldn't cross them and they wouldn't cross her. It wasn't even necessary that they were friends but just that got on with each other. That didn't mean she didn't want to be friends but from the impressions she got from them there was something there that she wasn't a part of and she put it down to her being a stranger that was the reason why.

"Lordsburg, five miles!" Hilary almost screamed.

"Lordsburg, five miles." Kai repeated. "Looks like we've found our stop for tonight. This town better have a half decent place to sleep and an even more decent place to drink. I'm not going to sleep tonight until I can't even remember my name." He rolled his shoulders and felt some of the joints loosen up. After hours of driving he really needed to relax tonight. "Actually, a massage wouldn't go down too badly."

"You fucking gay," Tala laughed.

"You'd be surprised how many males go for massages. One of my friends from Orange's parents owned this really exclusive salon and she told me that the amount of male customers they got were staggering. Of course, they never did any of the work themselves they just told everyone else what to do." Hilary informed them.

"Maybe I'll take a trip there one day and try it out." Kai mused, not quite convincing himself.

"Or you can just go to one in Mexico, you know?"

"Or I could just go to one in Mexico." He repeated. "I know."

"Guys, I think we've reached Lordsberg." Tala said. "At least I'm guessing form the sign saying 'Welcome to Lordsburg' that's where we are."

"Woohoo!" Hilary whooped.

"We'll find a hotel and then check out the town." Kai told them. "The first half decent one we find is where we're staying, alright?" No one disagreed. He murmured something that sounded like 'good'.

The town of Lordsburg wasn't anything fancy. It seemed like a typical American town which didn't get all the hype from more famous ones like Santa Fe, New York or Washington. It seemed friendly enough and not as touristy as the more popular destinations which is just as well for people wanting to keep a low profile. After driving along the main road into the centre of the town, Kai spotted an elegant but not exclusive looking building that had the vacancy sign illuminated in a garish yellow neon light that didn't suit the hotel at all. Kai looked around at his two passengers and they both nodded that the hotel would do. Anything would do so long as they got out of the car. He was surprised by how exhausted he actually was.

He turned the car into the parking lot and got out, breathing in the warm, fresh air. He got into the trunk and passed Hilary and Tala their bags, locked the car and entered the hotel.

The interior was not as grand as the exterior. When outside it looked like something that could be in a fairytale inside it was more modern that it looked like it could feature in a sci-fi movie of sorts. It was a drastic improvement for the place they'd stayed in L.A. It would probably also be drastically more expensive. Tonight, however, Kai didn't care about budgeting. If worst came to worst, he could lift more money from his bank as they were leaving the next morning. However, Hilary and Tala both had money they could use to get by with.

A gentleman with greying hair and a grandfather face smiled at the three travellers warmly as they rang the bell at reception. He pushed his wire rimmed glasses up his nose. "How can I help you?"

"We'd like two rooms, for tonight." Kai said. "A single and a double."

The man typed into his computer and frowned. "I'm afraid there's no single rooms left. We can give you a two bedroom, if that's any good? That's two single beds and one single bed? Or we can give you two double rooms, but there will be a supplement."

Kai looked at Hilary and Tala. "Okay, we'll take the two bedroom."

He typed some more onto his computer. "What board will you be wanting?"

"Bed and breakfast!" Hilary said quietly and nudged Kai.

"Bed and breakfast," he repeated in a louder voice.

"For one night that'll be two hundred dollars. You can either pay now or as you leave, whichever you wish. Any extra costs such as pay per view on your television will have to be settled as you check out." Tala took a sharp intake of breath through his teeth and looked at Kai as if he was insane. Kai ignored him and paid him in as little notes as possible so he knew exactly what they had left to spend. Even Hilary looked pained as each note was placed onto the counter meticulously. "Here is your keycard and breakfast is served between seven o'clock and ten o'clock in the dining room. Will you be requiring a wake up call?"

"Yes, please." Hilary smiled sweetly. "Eight thirty, if that's alright."

He smiled back. "Not a problem. Please have a nice stay."

Kai took the key from the desk and avoided the looks or irritation from his companions. Maybe he had stretched the budget a little but he didn't want another episode like he and Tala had had in L.A when they chose the cheapest accommodation that was available for them. In this hotel, Kai very much doubted they would have another run in with a prostitute that resulted in their car having more passengers than originally intended. In Hilary's case he wasn't really complaining.

"Two hundred dollars?" Tala burst out when they were in the safety of the elevator. "Way to go, smartass. Do you realise how little money we have left now? How the hell are we going to make it to Mexico when we have little under two hundred dollars left and we still need to pay for gas and food for the next few days."

"And a hotel for tomorrow night, too." Hilary added. "But don't worry because I have some money still to contribute."

"Yeah. I'll just go to a cash machine tomorrow as we leave. It's not a big deal." Kai shrugged. "But I don't know if we'll stay at a hotel tomorrow night. We weren't planning too."

Hilary frowned as the elevator door clunked open with an almighty shudder like a child who had seen a ghost. "But why not? I thought you didn't need to be back until Sunday? It's only Friday and if we stay in Texas tomorrow then you'll still be back in Mexico by Sunday night."

Tala rounded on Hilary so suddenly that she almost shrieked and grabbed her arm fiercly. "Do you want us to just leave you here?" She shook her head no, her eyes were like a deer's caught in headlights. "Then shut up and do whatever the fuck we tell you."

"That's enough!" Kai pulled Tala away from Hilary and glared at him with such anger Tala though he might actually hit him to vent some of it. "Just cool it. We'll discuss it tomorrow night what we're going to do but don't ever talk to her like that again. She's as much a part of this as we are."

Tala sniggered and studied her like a snake studies its snack. "No she's not and she's damn lucky." He shrugged Kai off him and softened his gaze. "I'm sorry Hilary. I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. Did I hurt you?" She shook her head numbly, still shocked at his sudden change in temperament. "Good." He left one lingering look at Kai and went into their hotel room.

"Are you alright?" Kai asked her and touched her arm lightly. It had gone red from where Tala had gripped it.

"Yeah…" She said quietly. "But what's the matter with him? There's something seriously wrong with him. I can tell from his eyes. There's something troubling him and its affecting him mentally. You guys haven't done anything, have you?"

Kai denied it with single incline of his head and looked thoughtful. "Well, his mom is in hospital right now. She has a brain tumour. That's why he wants to get home so badly. He's worried about her and its really getting to him. But he doesn't really want to talk about it so I wouldn't mention it to him. Or that I told you."

Hilary opened her mouth in a silent 'oh' then made a zipping motion across it, followed by a subtle wink. She went into the room and Kai followed her, noticing for the first time the slight wiggle she had in her walk, the way her hips swung from side to side like clockwork. It was hard to keep his eyes off the entrancing pattern. Even when she went into her own room with promises of getting changed within five minutes he felt his eyes trying to see through her door like they had x-ray vision. When he looked away from the rich looking woodwork he saw Tala looking at him with a bemused look on his face and he followed him into their own delicately decorated bedroom. It was simple but also elegant looking. Kai thought it was definitely worth the money they paid. The beds were far superior quality of wood and their linen looked as if it had been changed that same morning.

"Don't think I didn't notice the way you just optically raped her." Tala said in a hushed voice.

"So what if I did? It's better than you trying to assault her out in the corridor. Seriously, she has no idea what's going on so don't make it so blatantly obvious something's up. She's not stupid or thick. She _will_ suss us out if given the right leads." He tugged off his t-shirt and dwelved into his suitcase to put on blue striped shirt after giving himself a spritz of deodorant.

"Why don't we leave her then?" Tala asked with a smirk, knowing his friend's answer. The silence confirmed it. "You like her!" Kai rolled his eyes. "You do. I saw the way you were looking at her in the car, you know."

"The car…what happened to you when you were driving?" Tala shrugged, implying that he wasn't going to answer. Kai didn't press on any further as he already had a vague idea what had happened, if it was anything like the vision he had. "Whatever. But I'm only going to say this once and once only: don't do anything to fuck this up and that means keeping your composure in front of Hilary. I won't let you turn on her like that again." He pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and left Tala glowering to his devices. He needed to use the bathroom anyway so he could brush his teeth. Outside, he met Hilary who, already changed, had the same idea. He held his hand out in a gentlemanly way. "Ladies first."

She laughed. "I'm only going to brush my teeth. Feel free to join me."

So he did.

* * *

Less than ten minutes later, the three travellers were freshened up and looking for a place to fill their empty stomachs. It was around eight p.m. Kai's eyes once again found they were wandering almost lustfully to Hilary's derriere except this time she was wearing a skirt that stopped a few inches above her knees as if she was deliberately providing him with an eyeful of her candy. He wasn't complaining. If she was offering, he felt obliged to accept. 

They'd only walked a little bit along the busy road when Kai spotted a nice looking restaurant that didn't look cheap but also not expensive either. When he pointed it out the others agreed with Tala demanding that he paid and then sheepishly adding that it was the least he could do to make it up to Hilary. She smiled as if there was nothing to make up for and cast an unreadable look at Kai.

They went in and were given a table for three that was by the window. The sound of Hilary's kitten heeled shoes clacked gently against the wooden floorboards as she took her seat on Tala's left an Kai's right, after having Kai seat her down like a proper gentleman. She felt her eyes drawing towards his open necked shirt and seeing the occasional flashed of a well toned chest. She hoped to God that she wasn't blushing. Thankfully it seemed that Kai hadn't noticed. She picked up her menu to hide it and saw that each dish had been extravagantly named when it could easily be summarised in two words. She'd always found this both humorous and superficial whenever she was dining out. It was one of the many reasons for leaving home that she put under the 'other' column: not important enough to be a clincher but important enough to have some effect.

It seemed as if no time at all had passed until the waiter came over and took their order. Hilary looked around her and noticed that the restaurant was surprisingly empty for a Friday night. Smiling at the good looking young man, she ordered a seafood pasta which had a more expanded name which she didn't care to try and pronounce. Kai and Tala both ordered a steak; Kai's rare and Tala's well done. Conversation while waiting for their meal had been seemingly forced as Hilary noticed that some sort of shadow had fallen between the two boys and she had a sneaking suspicion that she was the cloud that had caused it. Brief and to the point. Except when _she_ talked to Kai. He seemed to take care to give her more than a one word answer and occasionally gifted her with an expression that was close to a smile. Tala seemed to notice this, too, as he retreated to his own little world and shut the other two out, slamming the door and throwing away the key.

"That was really nice, wasn't it?" Hilary asked them both to be civil. Part of her was hoping Tala would allow her to pay her share of the bill. So far they'd given her too easy a ride.

"It certainly was," the brunette replied with a genuine smile of satisfaction. "I'll just get the bill and we can bugger off and hit the tiles." Hilary tried not to hide the disappointment as she ate her complimentary mint and watched Tala hand over his money and also leave a check. She had a quick look at the receipt and saw that the mean, including the wine they'd had and tip, had amounted to seventy dollars. It wasn't too much but it wasn't too little either. She looked up and saw Tala smiling that bemused smile. "Don't worry about it." She nodded.

Silently, thought not awkwardly, they left. "The first bar we come to we go into, alright?" Kai had asked. No one had disagreed.

The first bar, by chance, had been a middle of the road one with the name "Little Mexico." Even if they hadn't wanted to go into it, Hilary would have insisted. Inside it was busy. A lot busier than either of them expected which worked out just as well since Hilary was less likely to be ID-ed when the bar was as crowded as this. Kai also worried it meant that more men were likely to hit on her, something he would have to be on the lookout for. Not just for personal gain but the last thing they needed was Hilary to disappear with some guy.

"First round's on me," Hilary insisted and before they had a chance to object, she had already came back with their orders and placed them on the wooden table they'd been able to snag as they came in the door.

Tala and Kai both accepted their beers gratefully. Hilary, not being one for drinking extensively, had also chosen a beer and tried to hide her cringe from its bitter taste.

"Not used to it?" Kai asked, taking another chug from his bottle. She grimaced in reply but drank again regardless. He almost smiled at her.

Within an hour, each of them were on their fourth bottle. Kai and Tala had paced themselves slower than usual so they could match Hilary's drinking speed which even a snail might beat. The next round, she moved onto something she could take a little easier and asked for a vodka and coke. She smiled warmly as the familiar taste of the alcohol burned the back pf her throat soothingly and realised that her mind wasn't as aware as it normally was. If she wasn't too careful she might get a little too tipsy. If that happened she would be mortified. The last thing she wanted her companions to think was that she couldn't handle her drink; she couldn't but she didn't want them to know that.

It seemed as if she wasn't the only one. Kai seemed to slump in his chair a bit more than he had previously. Hilary doubted that he felt as intoxicated as her maybe he was more…merry, for want of a better word. His face seemed to adopt a carefree persona and even Tala seemed to relax in the comfort of his long lost friend of alcoholic content.

"I'm going to take a leak," the brunette announced suddenly and made his way to the bathroom, past all the drunken men who barricaded it unintentionally.

"He seems…better," Hilary commented. "The wonders that drink can do for you, huh?" Kai murmured an agreed reply and she giggled. "Alcohol makes me feel so happy. I'm always laughing. It's quite sad, actually. It also makes me incredibly, incredibly incapable of protest against boys."

"Yeah?" Kai asked, smirking and looking at her. Hilary noticed that he'd moved in a few inches closer to her. Her heart beat quickened. "Well it makes me realised the things that I want more and more." His eyes lowered to her neckline and his voice dropped in pitch.

"Yeah?" She murmured, feeling him get closer to her, wanting her. She had a feeling it wasn't just the beverage talking either. "And what do you want?"

He kissed her drunkenly. It wasn't a particularly breathtaking kiss though with better circumstances it would have been. Hilary felt her arms take control of themselves and work their way around his neck as she accepted him as he accepted her under intoxication; or perhaps not.

It wasn't long until Kai pulled back, biting his lip like he was savouring her taste; the sweet alcoholic taste on her lips. She felt herself shake her head.

"Oh, Alex…" She whispered, not quite sure either of them knew what they were doing. Nonetheless, she moved in to kiss him again.

In the back of the room, Tala watched them kiss again and felt his hand clutch around his bottle tighter. This wasn't part of his plan. He knew letting Hilary come in the first place had been a big mistake. Kai barely knew the girl and was already susceptible to her feminine charm. If he didn't stop soon something would have to be done. He would gladly take control, if that's what need be done. There was no way he was going to be dragged down with Kai like this Hilary was going to do with him. There was no way he'd let that happen. He'd have to stop it before something worse happened…or maybe that was just the drink talking?

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	8. Jealousy

Hey all! This chapter sort of looks more into Tala than anything else but also developes the plot onwards. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade  


Jealously

Kai felt some one shaking him franticly and opened his tired eyes to meet Tala's wild ones. Knowing something was wrong; he immediately sat up in bed and asked him what was up. Tala shook his head numbly and gestured to the door of there room where he could just catch a glimpse of the television. It looked like a news report was on and Kai felt his heart pick up speed as he recognised the faces being displayed.

"_It has been suspected that the wanted men in connected with Garnet Granger's murder have been travelling throughout the states in a bid to reach refuge in the borders of Mexico, if they haven't already done so. Kai Hiwatari and Tala Valkov were recognised by the receptionist of a L.A hotel which they had booked into shortly after the alleged murder of Garnet Granger took place. There has been no further sightings of the boys since but we'd like to ask the citizens of America to be vigilant and if any one arouses suspicion if they could contact their local police._

"_It is believed the suspects are travelling through the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to finally escape to Mexico. We have no idea how they are travelling or how far they are right now but we'd like to remind you that these men are desperate and if approached could be dangerous."_

The phone began to rang as their wake up call was issued and Tala turned of the T.V right away. Now it was all too easy for Hilary to make a connection between them and the murder and if she did it could be all over for them. They mustn't give her any opportunities to do so. He looked at Kai who was staring at Hilary's room door as if he was anticipating the brunette's exit at any time. At that moment, Tala knew that it was hopeless to get rid of her now. Kai wouldn't allow it. He would rather risk both of them losing their necks than dispose of his new love interest. The bile rose in the back of his throat as he thought about how close the two of them had been last night; how smitten they had been with each other. They both had no idea that he'd seen them and they both had no idea of the disgust he'd felt for each of them. They were practically strangers and Hilary was almost throwing herself at him like some cheap slut and Kai…His disgust for his friend was almost incomprehensible. Kai _knew_ the risks he was taking by letting his emotions get the better of him. Why couldn't he understand the danger he was putting all of them in? Why didn't he understand how deep Hilary was swimming in this pool of deceit and without a safety line to help her it was going to be difficult to get back out?

"Good morning!" Hilary sang as she sleepily left her room. Tala nodded in acknowledgment and found himself trying to hide the shame of the murderous thoughts he'd had last night about her. She had no idea what the monsters in his head had been coming up with to get rid of her. "I'm going to take a shower then we can go down for breakfast, okay?"

Tala saw Kai face lighten slightly as Hilary made some sort of expression at him that he couldn't see and right away he felt rage beyond anything he'd ever felt before. Were they going to keep this from him? Especially Kai who he'd known all his life and had never kept anything from? What was his big plan to get them all out of this? Was he planning on telling Hilary that they accidentally killed a girl and were now running away from the authorities and hope that she understood enough to go with them?

If that were so then he was a fool. An even bigger one than Tala who foresaw this coming the moment he'd agreed to let Hilary tag alone with them. It had been a mistake and now he feared they were going to pay dearly for it.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked and gestured at Tala's hands which had been curled up into fists so tightly that they had begun to bleed. "Is something up? If it's the news report you're worried about don't. We'll be fine so long as we keep a low profile and don't stick around anywhere we don't have to."

_And what about your girlfriend's need for a hotel tonight when we're right in the belly of the beast? _He felt like asking. "We can't afford to stop tonight. We need to keep driving through. We can't stop and I don't care what Hilary says."

"Don't care what Hilary says what?" Hilary asked as she emerged from the shower with her hair damp and only a small towel to cover her up.

Her skin was red and steam rose from it still. Tala noticed Kai staring lustfully at her perfect body and felt a growl rise in his throat. "Tonight. I still don't think we should stop. I really don't think it's a good idea at all. It would be cutting things too tight."

Hilary frowned. "Let's talk about this nearer the time and not make judgements just now. When it comes to eight o'clock we'll see how far we've gotten and then we can make up our minds. How's that?"

Tala grunted a fine and she went into her bedroom to get ready. Kai said he was going to use the shower and Tala grunted again. He'd already showered so all he needed was to pull on fresh clothes and he was ready to go. He did so begrudgingly and muttered angrily to himself and found the thoughts of murdering the meddling bitch call Hilary were recurring more strongly than ever. The lamp he had in his hand as he turned it off he could imagine raising it above her conniving, manipulative head and smashing it down again and again and again until it was covered with her blood and her brains. She would look into cold, ice blue eyes with her sparkling ruby ones silently asking why and he would sneer. He would sneer and laugh until the life was bludgeoned out of her.

"Tal? Tala?" The sound of Kai's voice made him awake from his glorious dream and he noticed he was still holding the lamp. "Are you ready to go? Hilary's waiting."

"Oh yes," He smiled crookedly. "We can't keep _Hilary_ waiting, can we? No siree."

Kai watched Tala leave the bedroom and bit his lip out of curiosity. Tala had been acting strange last night. He wondered just how stable his friend was. That look on his face when he'd been holding the lamp was haunting. It was a mixture of insanity and immense relief. What was running through his mind to create such a diverse couple of emotions? What madness – if any – was brewing there? Thinking about it only made him worry and that was something he couldn't afford to do. If he worried then he would waste time doing so and time wasn't on their side, it seemed. They had to make it to Mexico as soon as possible unless they wanted to be caught. But then again, when they get to Mexico it would also mean saying goodbye to Hilary. Unless she chose to stay with him. Wouldn't that then mean they, he, would have to tell her the truth? What would she think? Part of him thought she would understand but the other part was uncertain. In all honesty, how well did he really know her? He'd really only been around her for little over a day but he also got the impression that with Hilary what you see is what you get. They'd also spent majority of the day before talking and getting to know each other too so really she didn't feel like a stranger at all.

She seemed to know that she was on his mind for when he and Tala joined her outside the hotel room she seemed to smile secretly to herself, like she knew he remembered the night before and had no regrets about being so forward so soon. He knew she didn't either. It had seemed so…right. And so typical to happen at a time like this when for all he knew tragedy could be just around the corner and not just for him but for her as well. He didn't like to admit it, but those sneaky looks Tala gave her when he thought no one was looking shocked him. He'd never seen so much malice in his friend's eyes as he had in the past day. It led Kai to believe perhaps Tala had seen more than he should have last night but he didn't see a reason to bring it up. That would be pointless until something more solid was confirmed between them since Kai could foresee that it would only further aggravate Tala if his suspicions were confirmed but not solidified.

Sleep was still on everyone's minds as they trundled into the breakfast hall with precious few words exchanged between them. Like Kai and Tala, Hilary was obviously not a morning person and that suited them just fine. There was nothing worse than someone being cheery when you really can't be bothered with happiness.

Their breakfast consisted of a large buffet which Kai suggested they make the most of since they can never really tell when the next time they'll stop will be. There had been no problems finding food to eat since there was practically every breakfast food you could imagine from cooked sausages and eggs to various cereals to fruit or toast. They'd eaten their fill as quickly as they could and went back to their room to collect their baggage and leave.

As they closed the door of the room for the last time Kai couldn't help but feel a heart wrenching feeling of despair. The scariest thing about leaving the room was that he didn't know if this would be the last time he got to sleep in a comfortable bed. The thought hadn't occurred to him until then and it hit him like a truck. Today could be the day where they were finally arrested and he knew they would be found guilty of murder. They'd been foolish to run and think they'd get away with it. Foolish. When they where found guilty he'd have to face years of prison life possibly for the rest of his life and at least for the foreseeable future. Secretly, it was an idea that terrified him. Sacrificing his freedom, his life. Sure, he was already sacrificing his life to flee to Mexico but at least he was still in control. In prison all freedom was locked away with him and never really released when he was. That amount of confinement was something he wasn't sure he could face but it was certainly better than dying. For him, dying would to be giving up completely.

After checking out, Kai gave Tala the keys to the car. The red head stretched before getting into the front seat and starting the car. He sat patiently as Hilary and Kai packed the rest of the bags into the trunk and then used the ATM machine on the side of the building to withdraw another wad of cash to see them through the day. The two boys thought nothing of the mistake they were making.

Tala felt his haunches rise as, instead of getting into the passenger seat beside him, Kai sat in the back with Hilary. The feeling of betrayal was so intense he wasn't able to start the car properly. It stalled a few times until he regained his composure and the engine hummed to life. As they drove away from the Lordsburg hotel he could feel his eyes linger on it for longer than necessary as he considered the journey ahead as they began the last lap of the race between them and the authorities hoping to lock their sorry asses away for a very, very long time.

Something in the back seat began to creep and Tala saw, to his up most horror, Kai take Hilary's hand and smile at her in the way he'd only smiled at his closest friends. Suddenly Tala realised that these emotions he was feeling were not because of the situation at hand, not entirely, but were ones that was almost alien to him. Until now.

Jealousy.

It made perfect sense now. Kai was the only friend he had in the world, his only family, his brother. Now this girl was taking him away and what would he have then? Nothing. He would be alone. Yes. It was crystal clear now like the sky after a storm. It wasn't because he was worried about Hilary's or Kai's welfare but because he was selfishly only concerned for his own. His mental welfare, that was. He remembered an old quote from a film Garnet had always loved to watch. It went something like "jealously has driven him mad" from 'Moulin Rouge' and realised if he wasn't careful it would be the same for him. Already he could see himself deteriorating and part of him was terrified by it. The other part embraced it with open arms. This could give him the final push he needed to fulfil this journey's end. This flaming envy could burn so brightly that no one would stand in his way between him his freedom. And if one of those obstacles was Hilary then so be it.

No.

He couldn't. Hilary was an innocent in all of this. He knew that deep down inside of him. He couldn't do anything to hurt her. It just wasn't fair. He would just have to trust that Kai and Hilary wouldn't leave him in the sidelines. But then, who said he had to hurt her _physically_. He could just as easily do the job mentally. And if even that couldn't deter her then maybe Kai deserved to have her and he would find some Mexican chica to keep him company. Despite the raging emotions inside of him he smiled. He would test her somehow, test her loyalty to Kai. If she passed then, hell, he would marry them both if they wanted it and if not all the better for him.

Besides the last thing he wanted was another murder on his hands.

"Paul are you sure you're fit to drive?" Hilary seemed genuinely concerned and Tala felt himself wondering foolishly if his eyes had adopted the green tinge his mind had and if so could she see. "I mean you seem to have something on your mind. Is there anything you wanna talk about?"

Tala looked at her and found that contempt returning. This time he hid it well. "I'm sure and no. I'm just tired. Don't worry about it, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" She asked again. "I'm sure Kai wouldn't mind driving for a while." Kai nodded under her intense staring ruby eyes, probably now feeling a need to appease her Tala realised.

He let a breath of air enter his lungs and then released it again to calm his rising temper. "I'm sure."

She smiled at him and he smiled back, hoping it didn't seem forced.

* * *

They hadn't even been an hour or two down the road when Hilary's face crumpled with worry and her hands went instinctively to her midsection. The silence was so great she wasn't sure she wanted to try and break it by requesting that the radio had been turned on; she was sure that wouldn't have been taken too kindly by Tala. Now this new question that was on her mind would be ten times worse. She crossed her legs firmly and shook one of them to distract her from the sensation she was getting in her bladder. It didn't work. Next she tried to think of a band for every letter of the alphabet. She got to J before having to give up. The clock read ten fifteen and she promised that at ten thirty she would ask for a quick toilet stop. 

Ten sixteen…

After an eternity the digits changed to ten seventeen.

"Can we please stop for the toilet?" She burst out, worrying that that wouldn't be the only thing bursting out. "I really need to go really badly."

Tala frowned at her in the rear view mirror. "Didn't you go before we left?"

"I didn't need before we left!"

Tala met Kai's eyes and sighed in annoyance. "Can you hold it in for five more minutes until we find some restrooms?" There were out of the Lordsburg area and there were no service stations in sight. Only masses upon masses of forestry. Tala felt a strange feeling of satisfaction.

"If I have to but don't blame me if I don't." A few seconds later she added, "Please don't make me do that."

On the accelerator, Tala's foot lifted slightly to slow the car down and then realising his own pettiness he replaced it with more force. Besides, he didn't want the entire car smelling of urine.

* * *

Kai didn't know what made him turn on the radio when Hilary left to use the bathroom with relief that had seemed unreal. It was like some supernatural force, like Garnet smiling down at him and then giving him a two fingered gesture that every child over the age of eleven was familiar with and it sure as hell wasn't the sign for peace. Wither it was or not, he had done it anyway. Slowly, the radio had loaded up and began to play its usual upbeat songs as chosen by the local DJ of that area. 

Part of him had sort of known that the news report would play and part of him had known what it was going to tell them. It had been like a sixth sense. The next thing he would be talking to ghosts.

At the first sound of the news countdown beginning, Tala had gone to switch it off but Kai's strong and firm hand on his arm had stopped him. He was glad too. The curiosity would have killed him.

"_The alleged murderers of Garnet Granger, Kai Hiwatari and Tala Valkov, have been linked to the state of New Mexico this morning where at approximately eight p.m, Hiwatari accessed his bank account to withdraw money. Police are now scouting the area and roads for any traces of these heartless killer and once again ask citizens to be vigilant if they see any youths that resemble the pictures shown._

"_We once again remind you that these men are dangerous and should not be approached at any cost."_

That was all Kai needed to hear. He felt physically sick to his stomach. This morning he'd thought nothing of using his bank card and already he was seeing where his mistake had taken him. If only he'd been more savvy and if only he'd been more clued up. The emptiest words he realised he'd ever use were 'if only'. He could say them all he wanted but they had no real affect for he did what he did and couldn't undo it no matter how many 'if only's he used.

Tala's face turned paler. The news had took a downcast day and made it rain even heavier. The sun chilled him to the very core. They were so _close_. He could almost taste the world that Mexico was keeping for them.

"What do we do now?" Kai asked, noting that his voice was trembling like a violinist using the flexibility of their wrist to create the textured sound. It didn't sound so textured right then.

Tala bit his lip as Hilary emerged from the toilets pulling at her jeans and making sure they were sitting right. Things were going to get so much more troublesome but he had a feeling that Hilary was now a blessing in disguise. What the police were looking for was two boys that fitted their old description trying to make their way as quickly as they could to the asylum over the American border. What they wouldn't expect was two boys and a girl, neither of which fitted any descriptions, taking a road trip to Mexico while the prices there were still cheap and the weather nice. This was his hopes of hopes but he knew even then it could be futile. Hilary could only provide so much cover for them.

"Now," he said, "We drive like fuck."

Hilary got back into the car oblivious to thoughts running through the boys' minds but aware of the sudden change in mood that didn't seem to be a result of taking a pit stop.

With the sunlight streaming down on her, she had no idea how in the dark she could be.

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	9. Honesty

Sorry it took so long to post this!

Discliamier:I don't own Beyblade

Honesty 

They would _not_ be staying overnight in Texas. It was as simple as that. Kai was many things but reckless wasn't on that list. Now that he and Tala both knew how close they were to being caught there was no room for making foolish mistakes and wasting valuable time. Staying in a Texan hotel that evening would go under both headings. With the cops to hot on their trail they had to just keep going, no matter what. And if Hilary didn't like it that was just tough. She wasn't even supposed to be here anyway, she owed them. There wasn't a question about it. If she didn't want to ride all night then she could walk the rest of the way to Mexico. Kai didn't like that idea one little bit but if it meant saving his own skin then he was all for it. Sort of…

Reckless he may not be but infatuated he was. All at once he was reconsidering every thought. If it came between Hilary and Mexico, what would he choose? It was foolish to even contemplate contemplating that and he knew it. Hilary was still almost a stranger who until a few days ago he didn't even know existed. Not taking that final leap over the border was not only foolish but insane. If he stayed in America he would die. It was as simple as that. Even more so now that they'd crossed the state line into the Lonestar State; the belly of the beast itself. Being arrested here meant almost certain death. He wasn't completely worried, though. He still had faith that their change in appearance and extra cargo would fool the authorities for at least one more day. And one more day was really all they needed. That was if they didn't stay overnight and kept driving. In that scenario they'd be home free that time the next day.

Hilary shifted somewhere in the neverending space between the front and back of the car and forced Kai to reconsider her part in all of this again. For the umpteenth time that hour since they'd heard the broadcast announcing their whereabouts to all local listeners. Suspicions where going to be aroused if they were adamant that there would be no more major stops and Hilary's mind seemed as sharp as a tack. She would put two and two together and Kai figured her arithmetic was so good she'd get four no problem. When the battle in his mind between the mighty Leave Hilary Behind and the courageous Take Her To Mexico had finally resolved in a truce, one of the terms had been that he would tell her the truth. He didn't know when and he didn't know how but he knew he would have too.

To drag her further into the pit of their doom would be savage and callous; especially if she returned the feelings that Kai had growing for her.

It was approaching twelve o'clock now and as much refusing long breaks was going to be suspicious, refusing any at all would be just like telling Hilary what they'd done. His stomach was feeling pretty empty anyway. Lunch wouldn't go a miss.

"We should pull over and get some food," Kai told Tala in a way that said it was not just a mere suggestion. They _would_ be stopping for food. "It's been a while since we last ate."

Tala grunted.

"And no more Maccy D's or B K's, right?" Hilary asked, laughing.

"Damn right!" Kai replied, laughing too.

Until then, Hilary had been quietly napping in the backseat, her deep breaths steaming up the window by her nose. Looking at her eyes, Kai could see no mistrust in them at all; no sign of knowing what was really going on. He didn't like it but that made him feel more at ease. He could take his time to tell her if she wasn't suspicious of anything. She wouldn't run.

"It's gotten so quite in here…" She murmured to herself but Kai still heard. She leaned forward. "I'm going to turn on the radio." Before he could think, Kai's hand had shot out and grabbed Hilary's wrist in his with the vices at the end of his hand. She let out a small gasp of shock and looked at Kai in surprise. Her eyes were wide but Kai could see no fear in them, only that she wasn't expecting him to grab her like that.

Slowly, he forced his fingers to release their hold and as soon as she could, Hilary pulled her hand free and sat back in her seat, eyeing him warily. "If you don't want music on you should just say so," She said.

Kai's mind thought through many excuses to give her but none seemed to fit. The only real reason was he was afraid the new report would come back on. If it did, Hilary would suss them out and Kai didn't know what her reaction would be if she found out rather then was told by them of their true situation. It wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

At last, he said, "Sorry. I'm a little edgy. Too much coffee."

Hilary wrinkled her nose. "Its funny that you two both seem to have strange behaviour due to caffeine. If I were you I'd cut it out altogether."

Kai didn't bother saying anything else to her. She seemed to have bought it well enough and he didn't want to expand anymore in case she realised she'd actually been short changed.

Hilary rubbed her wrist. It hadn't hurt, really, but she'd gotten one hell of a fright to see Kai lose control like that. There were red marks on her wrist where his fingers had been but she hadn't really felt them. Her heart had probably been beating to fast for her nerves to feel it. That wasn't what bothered her. What bothered her was Kai's desperation for her to leave the radio off. His mouth may be able to lie as well as a lawyer but his eyes betrayed him. He knew exactly where her hand was going and it had alarmed him. Why wouldn't he want it turned on? What could possible be so bad about it? It was more than a matter of not liking the DJ's music. Much more. He was afraid of something, she'd seen it herself in his eyes; the way the pupils had dilated in panic and the whites had been shown just a fraction more than usual. It had only been for a fraction of a second but she'd seen it just the same. He was hiding something. They both were.

Hilary was beginning to think there was more to this trip to Mexico than she'd at first thought.

It could be harmless or it could be sinister. Whatever it was, she was going to find out tonight. Although her instinct was telling her to get away at the first chance she could, her heart was saying she should stay and see what will become of the situation. She felt fairly confident that they wouldn't harm her. Her ability to judge people told her that Kai would protect her from any danger that his other half may put her in but then it'd let her down big time when she thought they had nothing to hide. She was completely town in two. Should she risk it and stay or be safe and go? Her head was battling with her heart and she was in the middle of no man's land.

"Hilary…" She looked up at the sound of Kai's voice. He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. She thought she could see him fighting his own inner battle too. When the ceasefire had been announced he said, "When we stop I need to talk to you. It's important."

As simple as that Hilary knew that she would stay put for the time being. However that was subject to change. If Kai didn't straighten out his story then she would take her bag and leave him. Where she'd go she had no idea but she would go there anyway.

* * *

Kai wasn't sure what town they were in but it looked quiet and quaint by Texan standards. They pulled up outside a sandwich bar which looked clinically clean. Tala looked at Kai briefly and he nodded in confirmation. 

"I'll take your orders," Tala said, "so you guys can have some alone time."

There was an awkward silence when Tala left which made Kai feel his discomfort growing. Hilary wasn't looking at him at all and he thought that was a bad sign from the start. Her eyes seemed dark, like she knew that something was coming and it wasn't the annunciation of World Peace.

"Let's go for a walk," Kai suggested to her.

She looked up and was very still for a second though for Kai it seemed like forever. Then she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. Kai did too and felt the warmth of the Texan sun on his bare arms. He closed his eyes and for a brief moment in time all his problems disappeared. When he opened them again, he knew he would have to face what he had to do. He went to the truck and took out Hilary's bag. She raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Once I talk to you, you might not want to stay." Kai gestured to the bag with the uncertainty of an animal not used to humans. "This is so you know you're free to leave."

"How bad is this thing?" Hilary asked once they'd started walking.

"Really…" Kai said and sat on a bench that was by the sidewalk. Hilary sat next to him, closer than she'd originally intended.

She looked at him expectantly and he realised that he just couldn't do it. He couldn't tell her. There was no way on earth he could risk what they had; what he thought they did.

"I…sometimes take drugs."

Hilary blinked several times at him in confusions. If this was his big news then she'd really been building herself up for an anticlimax. "That's it? That's your big thing? Jesus, Alex. I thought it was going to be something major."

Kai smiled a lopsided grin. "I thought it'd be a big deal to you."

Hilary laughed. "Oh Alex."

Kai saw her lean in a few centimetres and he did the same until their lips met and they were kissing once again. He let his fingers run through the ends of her hair and felt the silkiness between them that even China's silk couldn't match.

"Oh way to go, Kai." A familiar voice said. Kai opened his eyes in alarm and saw Garnet sitting behind Hilary, examining her nails. She looked every bit as radiant as she always had. "What a load of crap that was. Seriously. 'I sometimes take drugs'? How lame are you? Geez, you've gone downhill since you killed me." Kai looked at Hilary who was now sitting in the crook of his arm looking serene. She obviously was oblivious to the fact that a dead girl was sitting right beside her. "Oh yeah. Your new love interest, huh?" Garnet smiled her Cheshire Cat grin to expose her lovely teeth. "You've downgraded a bit since me too. Isn't this one a hooker? Well, who am I to judge. I'm a freaking corpse for crying out loud."

She disappeared and then reappeared behind the bench. "Do you think she'll like you this much when she finds out you're a cold hearted killer? Do you? I certainly don't. I think she'll run for the hills. I've gotta admit though, it was pretty decent of you to take her bag along. Ten points for being thoughtful. But you know you have to do it sooner or later and when you do it'll be goodbye Hooker Hilary!" She cackled at her new pseudonym for Hilary.

"We've been lying to you from the start, Hilary. Me and…Paul." Kai raked a hand through his hair and watched as Garnet smirked. She waved her fingers and faded away. "That's not even our real names. I'm Kai Hiwatari and he's Tala Valkov."

Hilary instantly recognised the names from the radio broadcast but she remained seated. Her legs probably wouldn't have been able to carry her anyway. Her entire body felt numb. There were people walking up and down the street and also looking out through windows. Under the circumstances, she felt relatively safe. That and she thought that Kai wouldn't hurt her.

"You killed that girl…" She whispered. "You _murdered _her."

"Please give me a chance to explain. Garnet was a really close friend of mine, possibly my best. But I wanted more than friendship. When at last she agreed to go out with me, I went to her sorority house and found her in bed with Tala. It turned out that Tala had though he was just as lucky as I was when in fact Garnet just wanted to pay us back for all the times we'd used her. Even now I still can't understand what she meant and I guess we never will."

"What made you do it? What made you kill her?" Hilary felt some feeling come back into her legs and she moved them into a position where she could flee if need be.

"It was meant to be a prank, just a harmless revenge prank to teach her a lesson. We hadn't meant for it to go wrong. We hadn't meant for her to die..." Kai sighed and closed his eyes. "What we had planned was that we mess with her a bit. It was the night of Spring Fling and we thought we'd maybe get her a bit dirty or whatever. Scare her. All it would look like would be a fraternity prank and in a way that's what it was. We tied her up an put her into the trunk of my car. We were driving along to the dance and a deer ran into the road so I swerved the car to avoid it but I lost control and we crashed. When we got out of the car we couldn't hear her anymore and when we checked on her she was dead." For the first time since the accident, Kai could feel tears. He blinked furiously to keep them away. "Then we panicked. We didn't know what to do. We thought that we'd go to prison and our lived would be over so we decided that we'd get rid of the body and the evidence then run away and start over."

"But it's not as simple as that."

Kai looked at her. "No. It's not. Now the police are on our trail and if we do get caught we're as good as dead."

"And you brought me into the middle of it." Hilary stated. "What would have happened to _me?_ Did that ever worry you? Was I just some girl who could through the trail from you, is that it?" She stood up, feeling her fear being replaced by an almighty anger she didn't know she possessed. "If you got arrested what would that imply for me? That I was an accomplice?" She jabbed her finger into his chest and narrowed her eyes. "I would go down with you and would you care?"

Grabbing her hand, Kai sat her down again. "That's why I'm telling you now. It's your choice what you do. You can either come with me and Tala to Mexico like planned or you can go. I won't force you either way." He looked at her as earnestly as he could. "But I want you to come with me. We could start a new life together."

Hilary shook her head. She could see he meant what he was saying but she just couldn't go with him. She couldn't. Not after what he'd told her. Sad as she was to leave him, she knew she would have to and it wasn't only to protect herself. Staying with them gave Kai a distraction that he didn't need. She fully understood why Tala seemed to not like her now. Where she was standing now was in the way and she couldn't have that. It was wrong for her to want his freedom, knowing what he'd done but she did. And to he would have to be free of her to have any hope.

"We can't, Alex…Kai. We just can't." Hilary let her hand touch his cheek. "I'm sorry." She took her bag and walked away from him. She had no idea where she was going but as soon as she was sure she was out of sight she felt her tears spill over her cheeks.

* * *

Kai returned to the car shortly after Hilary had disappeared from view. He felt numb from the inside out. A part of him had really thought she'd stay. It was obviously wrong and he knew that but it hurt him. 

When Tala saw him come back alone he knew instantly what had happened; he didn't need to ask. He put a hand on Kai's shoulder. "I'm sorry, man."

"Don't worry about it," he replied. "It's for the best anyway. She knows it and so do I."

"Right," Tala agreed. "So let's get the hell out of here. I'm starting to get nervous."

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	10. The CarJacking

First day of the Easter holidays so I'm pretty happy! Two weeks of no school!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

The Car-Jacking

His eyes were rimmed red when he caught the ghost of his reflection in the rear view mirror. Kai noticed that his tired skin had paled a little from the non-stop driving he and Tala had endured since Hilary left them. Tala hadn't mentioned her at all and for that he was grateful. He didn't trust himself to talk about for he didn't know what his mouth would say. He didn't want to blaspheme her name. Thinking about her helped. Wondering where she was right now and such things kept his mind from paranoia and where the demons would take it forever.

They'd stopped listening to the radio. Tala figured it was the best option considering their situation at the given moment. Any new bulletins would panic them and it was already lingering in both of their minds that they already had an idea what car they were driving and their new appearances. It wouldn't surprise them if they were already in Texas, scouring the state as they tried to find out where their route was. It made Tala more nervous than he liked to think possible. The police certainly weren't fools; they weren't the bumbling, doughnut eating idiots that were stereotyped on television. Not these ones. These ones had overheard choppers that Tala had seen once or twice circling the area and then flying away and they had more state cars than he cared to know about.

To think that another wrong move could cost them their lives scared the living God out of him, if he was even still with him. He noticed that his fingers had a slight tremble to them as he held the map to navigate for Kai and if his companion had noticed, he'd obviously chosen the right to remain silent.

Another thing to worry him was that it needn't even be their move that alerted the authorities. How well had they known Hilary in the short period that she'd been with them? Not at all, was the correct answer. Kai seemed fairly – if silently – confident that she'd keep mum but Tala wasn't entirely convinced. She seemed like the sort of girl who wanted to see justice done and would that mean giving up where they were and a detailed description only she had? He didn't like to think so but he knew it was more than likely. Mentioning this to Kai would be only cause him to become distracted and at a crucial time like this that was something they really could do without. Until they'd crossed that sweet Mexican border into the land of sombreros and tacos they would need to tread carefully. They were on thin ice and the cracks were beginning to show.

There was a crash of thunder in the darkening night sky that caused Tala to jolt back from his thoughts. The rain was falling down. He wasn't sure when it had began but it was coming full pelt. He noticed Kai leaned forward slightly to try and peer through the distortion from the water that even the windscreen wipers couldn't correct.

"Nice weather," he commented dryly.

Tala grunted. It looked like one hell of a storm was coming and they were caught directly in the middle. He thought how ironic it was now that Little Miss Sunshine had left them the darkness they had been hiding had replaced her.

"How far along are we?" Tala asked Kai, more for the conversation than the actual information. He didn't like it, but he was beginning to get really worried now. It was the weather that was creeping him out. Bad omens, it seemed to bring. He needed to hear the sound of Kai's voice to let him know that everything was fine. If Kai began to panic too then he could flip out totally.

Kai shrugged. "I have no idea. I want to say half way. Probably more than that, considering we've not exactly been driving slowly. Check the map to see, but I think if I keep the gas on we might just make it their before noon tomorrow or hopefully sooner."

Tala did just that, trying to remember the last town they'd been in. A sudden burst of relief broke through when he say that, according to the map, they were just under three quarters of the way there. He hadn't realised just how fast they must have been driving but he was grateful for it. Their freedom seemed to be just that much closer now, so close he could almost reach out and grab it with two arms. He wasn't going to fool himself though; they weren't out of the woods yet. In fact, they were in the very heart of them.

"Do you think we're going to make it?" He asked.

At first Kai didn't answer. "I'd say what I really want to but no one likes a pessimist."

Tala met Kai's eyes and looked away. It seemed to Tala as if Kai had almost already admitted his defeat and was waving the white flag. His eyes had lost that edge to them which showed his free will. Now they just looked defeated and he had a feeling Hilary was entirely to blame. She'd been spurring him on without even knowing it for she gave him the inspiration to grasp his freedom if only to get a chance to see where they would go; how far they'd get to before calling it a day – if that ever even happened. Now, he wouldn't have a chance to do anything more than kiss the girl. For a brief second of insanity, Tala almost felt his pain. What would it be like to let your mind wander through all the things you could do with some one only for them to walk away the way she did? Of course, she couldn't exactly be blamed for choosing not to stay. In her position, Tala knew he wouldn't have and was fairly certain it would be unanimous for Kai too.

Another bolt of lighting lit up the car in a magnificent white light and Tala let out a small scream as he saw the back of the car in the rear view window. The sudden sound made Kai press on the brakes in a panic and the car came to a total standstill. The only sound that could be heard was the rumbling of thunder nearby and the pelt, pelt, pelting of the rain on the car's metal structure. The only thing Tala could see was darkness for his eyes were closed shut.

Kai shook him, feeling more than unnerved by the erratic behaviour. "What's wrong?"

Tala shook his head furiously. "She's not there. _She's not fucking there._"

"Who's not?"

His eyes opened suddenly to reveal to reveal dilated pupils. They zoned onto Kai. "You know _damn _well who."

Kai had a feeling that he did but didn't think he could say anything. It was rare but not unheard of that the guilty should hallucinate about their victims haunting them. But they weren't guilty so their case must be a first.

Slowly he looked behind him and saw nothing there except the space where Hilary used to sit now empty.

"It's gone. Whatever you saw Tal is gone," Kai said.

Tala closed his eyes again and rested his head against the head rest. "I'm losing my fucking mind. I'm going _fucking _insane."

"No you're not. You're just…jittery. There's a lot to worry about and your mind's playing tricks on you. Just ignore it."

He opened them again and Kai felt relieved to find that the correct proportion of his icy blue irises and black pupils had returned.

"Have you seen her?" Tala asked.

"No…" Kai lied. "I've not."

Tala was silent for a few moments. "Let's get going again."

Kai nodded and turned the key in the ignition. It stalled. He tried it again. It stalled. Feeling his chest tighten he kept turning it but the car failed to start again.

"Shit." He whispered. "Shit, shit shit." He tried once more but there was not joy. "Shit, shit, _shit!_" He yelled and banged his fists onto the steering wheel.

Tala shook his head, feeling numb. "No. This can't be happening."

But it was and he could see that clearly by the way Kai was steadily losing his cool.

"We need to check the oil. Maybe the oils out of something. The gas is fine." Kai said and got out of the car. Immediately he was drenched but the onslaught of rain but he didn't feel anything. His entire body felt numb. He went to the bonnet of the car and propped it up, hoping to see something in the dark. A flash of lightning allowed him to locate the oil container and found it to be full.

Tala, who'd followed him out, cupped his eyes against the rain. "Do you see anything?"

"No, I'm not a fucking mechanic."

"Okay, here's what we're going to do." Under the circumstances, Tala's coolness unnerved Kai and he noticed it wasn't the first time he'd been able to do that in so many minutes. "We'll flag down the next car that comes along to help us. Then we'll take it and drive like fuck."

Kai shook his head, trying to deny what he knew was their only real option. "That's another black mark against our name."

Tala quirked an eyebrow and even in the dark Kai could sense his flippancy. "We've already murdered. What worse can we do? Some one will be along soon. This road hasn't exactly been deserted." As if he could sense Kai's displeasure at this plan, Tala put his hand onto Kai's wet shoulder. "It's for the greater good, Kai. You know that."

"I suppose I do," Kai replied, brushing Tala off.

"We'll leave the car unlocked so they've at least got somewhere to sit until they get help, if that makes you feel any better. Go get our bags and I'll stay here and turn on my charm."

_What charm?_ Kai asked himself as he watched three cars drive by consecutively, none stopping. Shaking his head, he reached into the trunk and hauled out the two suitcases. The rain had gotten even heavier and from the sound of the thunder, the storm was getting nearer them. It was the least of his worries, but Kai felt better to concern himself with that than with the real problem at hand – what would happen if they don't find a vehicle to hijack?

Another fifteen minutes passes and from the five cars – Kai counted them as they drove by, determined that when it got to twenty they start to walk – that had passes, none of them had even indicated that they saw them boys standing in the pouring rain clearly having vehicular problems of their own. Finally, after a further ten minutes, a blue mustang pulled up beside them and a middle aged man rolled his window and peered out at them. Kai noticed that he seemed like a well to do kid of guy who seemed as if he always wanted to lend a hand. He had that sort of pleasant but not memorable face. Kai wondered that they'd even remember it when they drove off after leaving him stranded. He also wondered wither or not the man would have a cell phone with which he could call for help with. He hoped so.

"Car trouble fellas?" The man asked with a Tennessean touched that came out as 'caa traable fellers'.

Kai didn't have to look at Tala to picture the act he was putting on. His face turned sheepish as he rubbed his arm. "Yeah, we can't get her to start and in this weather we can't even see under the hood enough to find out what's wrong. Don't suppose you have a flashlight on you?" The man nodded slowly and fished a torch out from somewhere in his car. Tala accepted it with what Kai suspected was gratitude and Tala looked under the propped up bonnet with the aide of the luminescent light. Kai saw that he was one hell of an actor as he screwed up his face in puzzlement. "I can't seem to find anything the matter. Don't suppose you know anything about cars?"

He nodded self-importantly and proudly. "'Bout that I do. Used to be a mechanic back in my high school days. Let me have a look at it and see if I can teach you a thing or two about a thing or two."

Kai bided his time as the man got out of his car, leaving the door ajar enough for him to slip in without being seen and the ignition running. He saw Tala watch him out of the corner of his eye as the Tennessean – or so Kai assumed – became engrossed in the gadgets and gizmos under the metal cover. Slowly, Kai put the suitcases in the passenger seat on to opposite side, watching carefully to see if the man was looking up at all.

"Tala now," Kai spoke in a calm voice that didn't sound as if anything out of the ordinary, such as a car-jacking, was about to take place. He ran around the side of the car and got into the passenger seat, ignoring the fact that he was seated on top of the suitcases. Tala shoved the man out of his way hard enough for him to hit the ground with an 'ooff' and got into the driver's seat. "Drive!"

Tala did a clean u-turn and drove at the top speed the mustang could manage. Kai watched as the Tennessean followed them as the drove off with his car in dismay. He began to laugh in relief as he sat back into the car seat in his sodden clothes. He wanted to get out of them badly but wasn't about to insist the pull over to allow him to do it. Besides Tala seemed happy enough judging by the tone of his laughter too.

"What a fucking rush man," Tala said. "For a moment there I thought we were going to have to walk the rest of the way. Holy shit…"

"Yeah, well we're not out or danger yet. He's going to alert the cops pretty damn soon and if they've got the smarts they're going to put two and two together and get four."

"By that time we'll be way ahead of them. And we can just take some of the side roads. They can't look at all of them, right?"

"If they're desperate enough," Kai said quietly, "they'll try anything." He hoisted the suitcases out from under his body and thrust them into the backseat. "We've got to get to the border as soon as we can."

"Right, right," Tala said, waving his hand in dismission that was beginning to irritate Kai. "Will you calm down? We're fine."

"We're not fucking fine!" Kai spat. "Garnet's dead, Hilary's gone and every policeman this side of America wants us to hang. I don't call that fine. I call that pretty fucking messed up."

Tala turned to look at Kai and he was silent. "Didn't they abolish hanging?"

Kai glared at him.

"Okay, I'm sorry. But Christ, you've got to relax. I've tried getting worked up and it doesn't help so the only thing to do is just take it as it comes." Kai didn't look at him and instead fixed his attention on the flashes of lightning that were dancing in the sky. "Where are we now?"

"Texas," Kai replied with some humour.

"No shit, Sherlock. Check the map."

Kai sat up erect. His hands went to his pockets but he knew it was in vain. In his mind, the image imprinted there was their map lying on the dashboard with their route clearly marked out black ink. He hadn't even any idea how the hell they could get to the border without using the roads they'd picked so a change or route could and would get them lost or in the wrong location.

"What's the chances of you lifting it as you went out the car?" Kai asked. It was Tala who'd been using it last but even if it hadn't been, Kai knew he wouldn't have thought to take it either.

Tala looked at him in sheer dread. "Please don't tell me what I think you're telling me?"

Kai, sorrowful, nodded. "It's not here."

Suddenly, Tala's mouth felt and tasted like sandpaper. "What do we do? Did you look at any of the roads besides the ones we're planning to take?"

"I didn't even think to do that."

"Shit."

"You said it," Kai agreed. "Look, its not the end of the world, right? We've just got to hope that we can get there before the cops do. I mean, they might not even look at it at first. They're going to want to interview the guy whose car we stole so that'll probably be their first priority."

"Bull. Shit. _And _you know it." Tala said accusingly. "The very first thing they're going to do when they discover one of the names exchanged was Tala" – at this point he gave a meaningful look in Kai's direction that was read as 'you dipshit' – "they're going to be going through everything in that car with a fine toothed comb."

"Who's the pessimist now?"

"Not the one who gave it away, that's the hell for sure." Kai could sense real venom in his voice.

"You're using a tone that I'm pretty fucking sure I don't like, Tala. They were going to put a name to our faces anyway, wither or not we gave them them."

Tala bit his lip. "I'm sorry but this is just…great. And that's sarcasm, by the way. You should know it well."

"The only thing we can do is to keep driving the way we planned and hope to God that He understands our predicament."

"You should stop talking about God, Kai, and stick where you're better acquainted. But I get what you're saying." Tala eased his foot off the accelerator to allow him to change gear. He wasn't used to this car but it ran like a dream. "No matter what, we're not going to stop for anything. If you need to piss, you do it out the window. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Good."

* * *

Please review! 

jellybean-kitty


	11. The End Of The Line

There's only a few chapters left to this. Just thought I'd update you on how long this has got to go!

Thanks to Tala-freak for reviewing, who I couldn't reply to personally.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

The End Of The Line 

Things were not going according to plan.

That was a simple enough statement that almost anyone could have told him that. It would have gone without saying anyway but to repeat it to himself made it seem all the more realistic to Kai. It was all going wrong. He knew it, Tala knew it and every police officer this side of Texas knew it too. He was beginning to have serious doubts they would ever make it out of this Godforsaken state as free men at all. Even living men was beginning to look like a long shot. To top it all off, Tala had retreated into his own little world, glaring at the road as if it had insulted his mother and offering no conversation at all. That was fine by him. They only words they had to exchange were the pessimistic kind that bordered on suicidal.

But they were making good time. So far, they'd gotten through the night without any hiccups or signs of any obstacles. At this thought, Kai touched wood. _So far_, he reminded himself. That could easily change. It would have helped it they knew what kind of state the Tennessean man was now in. Rescued, stranded, communicating with the outside. Any light on his position would have helped them immensely but it seemed when the deeds they'd carried out were so dark light found it hard to reach them.

He also wondered, not for the first time, how Hilary was doing: where she was, who she was with, what she was doing. Had she gone back to Los Angeles and if so was she going to have another shot at prostitution. His skin crawled as if maggots were in his flesh at that thought. In a funny sort of way, it might have been more beneficial if he'd never told her the truth. Then, she could have gone with them to Mexico and started a life where she didn't have to worry about selling herself for anything else other than job applications. There was no point in regretting that now, though. God knew he already had too much to last him a lifetime.

Tala looked at him sideways and suddenly knew what his friend was thinking about. "There's no point, Kai. She's gone. You did the right thing. That's the end of it." Kai looked at him back in a twisted kind of amusement, wondering how he knew that thought was playing on his mind. "I've known you for years, Kai. I can read you like a book. Only sometimes it's in a foreign language."

"So you've emerged from the depths of despair. Bring me back anything?"

"My good humour."

Kai smirked. "What's your guess now? It can't be too far, right? We've been travelling so long it _has _to be near."

As if acting as a Godsend, a sign post read 'Mexico Country Border – 150 miles'. Kai felt himself smiling. This officially meant they were on the home stretch. If the upped the speed they could be out of American in two and a half hours. Three hours tops. To know they were so close to freedom made him want to scream or yell or something. He kept his cool.

"If we hit seventy we can get there in…two hours and say ten minutes," he informed Tala.

The red head smirked and glanced at Kai out of the corner of his eye. "Consider it hit."

His foot slammed down on the pedal.

* * *

All had been going well for the first hour. In fact, Kai thought for a while that they were going to make it. However, it was in actual fact the beginning of the end the very second they sped away in the Mustang. He'd been foolish to think it would be so easy. 

The hour was eight oh eight when Kai began to feel a strange feeling in his stomach. It wasn't until two minutes later he discovered why. Overhead there was the whirling sound that could only be associated with a helicopter. Indeed, when Kai looked up he saw a big black chopper directly above their car and following them as they drove. Kai felt his heart sink but it was quickly replaced by something stronger, something with more courage. They only had twenty or so miles to go. Surely God wouldn't desert them now? They'd gotten so far he must have intended for them to escape. They were, after all, innocent in a sense.

"Speed up a little, Tala," Kai said, keeping his voice from wavering. "We need to speed up."

Tala nodded stiffly. He didn't need an explanation why.

For an entire minute, the helicopter floated behind them like some magnificent bird of prey; and they were the field mice. Then, it held back and flew off in the other direction.

"It's away," Kai stated. Tala just nodded. He'd noticed it too.

"Don't be thinking we're safe now," Tala needlessly reminded him. "There's a reason it left and I'm pretty sure it's not for tea and crumpets. Maybe it's trying to lull us into a false sense of security."

"Maybe we should just forget about it?"

Tala gave him a look which said that was the single worst idea he'd ever heard but said nothing of it. Kai noticed the speedometer crawl up until it was reaching eighty. He looked at Tala but he didn't look back. It wasn't intentional; his eyes were just so concentrated on the road to see much of anything else.

"I don't want to go to prison Kai," Tala said suddenly, catching Kai off guard.

"Do you think anyone does?"

"I don't want my life to be in the hands of some one else," he continued on as if Kai had said nothing.

Kai didn't say anything else after that. It'd be useless to even try. He didn't want to go to prison either but he was also willing to face the consequences if need be. He was grown up to know that every action had a reaction and he had to face the outcome of those. Tala may be willing to pretend they didn't but Kai knew better. They were already facing one right now; cast away from the comfortable life they'd always known to slum it in the dusty streets of Mexico until they could start something new. _If_ they could start something new. What 'something new' was, Kai wasn't sure but they would have to get jobs and hope to work their way up the ladder if they even hoped of living a fraction of the life the used to.

There was a faint roaring in the background and Kai looked behind to see that their helicopter friend was back and had brung a playmate.

"Tala!" He hissed.

"I _see_ them," Tala hissed back through clenched teeth.

The car sped up a further ten miles an hour. Instinctively, Kai reached for his seat belt and made sure he was strapped in. Further back, he could hear the beginning of the wails of sirens. The haunting blares were becoming steadily closer.

They'd been found out.

When Tala caught sight of the blue flashing lights, his foot slammed on the accelerator and Kai felt his entire body be pulled back into the seat. The scenery flew past them in a blur of colours that couldn't be defined. He could tell it was becoming more barren which indicated they were approaching the country's borders. For a brief second, Kai though they were actually going to make it through but when he fixed his eyes on the rapidly approaching border, he saw a sight which made his heart stop beating. There was a barricade waiting for them of police vehicles and they were heading right for it.

"Tala slow down!" Kai said, trying to remain calm.

"Are you fucking joking me? We're almost there and you want me to slow down?" He laughed shrilly and Kai thought that he'd gone insane. His recently dyed brown hair flopped across his eyes and Kai could see beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.

They were even closer now. So close, Kai could almost see the uniforms of the policemen.

"Shit Tala, stop the car!" Kai was screaming now. "If we crash we'll die!" Tala continued to laugh manically. "It's not just you in this car! Do you want to kill me as well as Garnet?"

At the mention of her name, Tala slammed his foot down on the brake. The seatbelt cut into Kai's shoulder painfully and the wind was knocked out of him. The car took a whole ten seconds to come to a complete halt and when it did, Kai could smell the distinguishing sound of burning rubber and he could hear the gentle hum of the engine as it was still running. Beside him, Tala was panting hard and his knuckles had turned white from the vice grip they had on the steering wheel.

In front of them, about a hundred metres or so away, was a line up of police vehicles and officers who were aiming their automatic guns in their direction. Kai could now make out some of their faces; not clearly but enough to see that they seemed like honest guys who were just out to do what their motto said – to protect and serve. He looked into the rear view mirror and saw that behind them they had already been blocked off by the patrol cars which had been coming up at their back. In other words, they were trapped. It was over. Finished.

What Kai assumed to be a negotiator raised a megaphone. He wore a crips black suit with a white shirt which settle against his black skin comfortably. He reminded Kai of a younger Samuel L. Jackson in one of his many police movies were he played the god cop trying to do his job.

"My name is Officer Harrison. Kai Hiwatari and Tala Valkov you're wanted for the suspected murder of Garnet Granger and for various accounts of grand theft auto. You've got no where else to run. Please step out of the car with your hand above your heads." His voice had the soft but firm tone that Kai had only encountered in trips to New York. He deduced that this man – Officer Harrison – was quite a well brought up man, probably not short of money but not very wealthy either.

"Come on Tala. We've been beaten. We should just give in now and maybe we'll get a lesser sentence," Kai said and unbuckled his seatbelt. He was about to open the door when Tala's hand latched onto his arm, squeezing it hard.

"Forget it," he spat. "I'm not letting these people decide _my_ fate. I'm in charge of my own life, not these idiots."

Kai looked into his friends eyes and didn't recognise this insane man beside him. "It's _over._ There's nothing we can do but hand ourselves in. Wither they control out fate or not we don't have a choice. They want us for _murder_, Tal. When we decided Garnet's fate, we gave up our own. There's no other way about it. That's just the way it goes. Let's just cooperate."

Tala shook his head furiously and some of the sweat flew off his face with the force. "You're lying. We didn't kill her. It was an accident. We don't deserve this."

"If you don't come out of the car on my count to ten we'll open fire on you. For your sake, please give yourselves in," Officer Harrison was saying. "Ten."

"But we _did_. Not on purpose, sure. But she's dead because of us." Kai couldn't understand why Tala couldn't see his sense.

"Nine."

"It's her fault, Kai. It was time we put an end to her bitchiness."

"Eight."

"By killing her? Even if she hadn't died what we did was sick and malicious. She could have pressed charges, college prank or not."

"Seven."

"I didn't want her to die," Tala whispered. "I didn't mean it. I want her right here with us, to tell everyone it was an accident. Now, she's haunting me. She's driving me insane." He laughed. "I think I am insane. Its not like you've seen her and why would she only target me."

"Six."

Kai looked down at his knees. "I lied. I have seen her. A lot. She's haunting me too, but I don't think it's her. I think it's our guilt. We know what we've done. It's like that Edgar Allan Poe book, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' only instead of a heart its Garnet, or what we think is Garnet but is really just a trick of the mind."

"Five."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tala asked. Kai could see he looked hurt, or almost hurt. "Why did you let me believe that I was crazy?"

"Four."

"I was afraid I was too."

"Three."

"In that case," Tala said with a smirk. He looked like he was the same Tala Kai had known all his life. That carefree and bravado twist of his lips was the same one he'd mastered since he was a teenager. "Let's show them how crazy we really are!" Tala began to rev up the car.

"What are you doing?!" Kai and Officer Harrison yelled instantaneously.

"Hold on, Kai!" Tala screamed as the car took off.

Kai fought against the sinking feeling and hurried to do his seatbelt up. Tala swerved the car to the side and sped across the line of officials who began firing at them. Kai put his hands over his head as the glass on his window smashed and slivers fell onto his arms and hair. Once they were past, Tala made another sharp turn and drove down the way they had come, even past the cars which had boxed him in. He made a U-turn and faced the border line, about two hundred metres away. The only thing that was separating them from it was a wide embankment that ran all along the circumference. They would have to clear it if they had any hopes of surviving.

Tala began to rev the car up again and turned to face Kai. "Are you ready?"

"Don't fucking do this Tala. It's insanity! You'll kill us."

"We're dead anyway, Kai. This way we'll go out with a bang. They'll remember us for years to come!"

Without another word, Tala let go of the brake and the Mustang accelerated. Kai couldn't even bring himself to look at the speedometer and instead closed his eyes while his reality became a blur. He could feel the ground underneath the car being swallowed up and then there was a surreal sensation of soaring. Kai opened his eyes and saw that they were airborne. The police had stopped firing as they watched in awe the craziness of it all. Kai felt himself laughing as they approached the edge of the embankment. He thought they were going to make it. The laughter died when he felt the car dip. It turned to fear. Tala was screaming and he joined in as he saw they were about to collide with the ground.

When they hit, Kai felt an almighty shudder run through him and his consciousness slipped away from him like a bar of soap would from your hand. The car turned over twice and when it finally came to a complete stop, all the officials approached the mess which had once acted as the getaway vehicle for one Kai Hiwatari and his best friend Tala Valkov.

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	12. Friendship Tested

It think there's roughly three chapters to go, give or take one or two. Just to give you guys an idea of where this story is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

Friendship Tested 

Kai looked out of the barred window from the prison cell he'd been kept in since being arrested two days ago. The view wasn't pleasant. It wasn't horrible either. It was just plain. Plain baroness. And rather boring. The entire cell was boring, in fact. Plain white walls with an even plainer bed to sit on. There was completely nothing to do but sit and stare into space or, in his case, out of the window which wasn't much more interesting. It seemed entertainment wasn't a big deal in Texan prisons. At least the one he was being help at was the very antithesis of entertainment. There were, of course, his fellow prisoners but he wouldn't even bat an eyelid at them. He'd heard what these people were like and quite frankly he didn't want to be a part of it. He would keep himself to himself and that would do him quite nicely, even if it did mean he went insane with boredom.

He was almost certain that after his trial he would be moved to a nicer location. His grandfather would see to that. Well, he hoped. So far, he'd been here two days and heard nothing from anyone but his lawyer. Even Tala had been kept from him and from what he understood, they'd been sent to different jails to keep it that way. His lawyer had said that it was so they couldn't collaborate on their stories. Kai couldn't help but feel a bit worried about this – a bit being the understatement of the century. So long as they told the truth they would be fine, but Tala's truth and his truth might be two entirely different things.

Sitting by himself, he wondered how Tala was doing. The only thing he'd been able to pick up from the wardens was that he had been slightly more fortunate in his choice of prison although not much. Apparently, Tala had been unconscious for several more hours after Kai had been (which had only been twenty minutes) so they'd decided to make his confinement slightly more luxurious than his own under the justification that they hadn't finished assessing his injuries – though Kai suspected it might be more his sanity being assessed than anything.

Still, he felt a bit irritated that they assumed he was perfectly sane just because he didn't happen to be driving the car. Hell, if it meant being kept in a plusher prison he'd claim madness any day.

A warden by the name of Stephen unlocked his cell door and offered him a humourless smile. Kai returned it.

"Your lawyer's here to see you, son. It doesn't look like good news, I'm afraid." Kai looked at him warily, half expecting the next statement from the guilty look in his eyes. "Also, more bad news but we finally got in touch with your grandfather but it he doesn't want anything to do with this case. I'm real sorry."

Kai waved it off like it was nothing but inside felt like he'd just received the worst news ever. He didn't know it wasn't even close. "Don't worry about it. I sort of expected it. Besides who's want to be relocated from a paradise like this anyway?" He held out his hands and allowed Stephen to put handcuffs on him, a procedure he was already accustomed to in his short stay.

Stephen briskly led him to a little room down a few corridors where he'd spent majority of his time talking with a lawyer by the name of Alan Claredon, although Kai was informed he could call him Mr. Claredon, the 'Mr.' part being stressed. From his deduction of the man it wasn't because he was being arrogant of condescending but more because he happened to be Kai's senior by quite a number of years and also a diehard traditionalist. Besides, Kai couldn't find the strength to muster up any bitter thoughts about Claredon since he and Stephen seemed to be the only people on his side at whatever prison he was being held in.

As he had expected, Claredon was already sitting across from Kai in the leather chair always provided for him on behalf of the prison staff and he was stuck with an uncomfortable plastic number that would cause him great backache if he had to sit on it any longer.

Claredon shook his hand gravely and Kai could tell at once the news was far from good. Dire, maybe. "I've been reassessing your case all night, Kai. I've also been talking things over with Tala's lawyer and from what we've deduced your storied aren't matching everywhere. Not only that but you've also got cases of fraud and theft to add to your convictions."

"What do you think I should do?" Kai asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Well, in all honesty I don't see any chance in hell of you getting cleared for murder with malicious intent." He began to light up a cigarette after confirming with Kai that he didn't mind. What Kai did mind about was that he was avoiding the question. "You see, your biggest mistake was trying to hide the evidence. If you'd come clean at the time then your story would be substantially more believable but since you buried the body, dumped the car and then did all sorts of stuff to evade the police then it seems like you've got guilty written all over you. _I _believe you, thought, if its any consolation."

Kai let his head fall back. "With all due respect, Mr. Claredon, that's not much help. If you could convince the judge then you're talking."

Claredon nodded his understanding. "I know. But even with as much experience as I have you're asking me to convince a room full of people who can only see the facts in front of them to let you off with a crime that has damning evidence. If they could talk to you one on one like I have then maybe they'd be swayed otherwise but that's just not possible." He leaned in a little so that Kai could smell the expensive cologne he wore. "That's of course, provided that you aren't in fact the world's greatest liar." Kai looked at him in a way which the lawyer obviously found amusing as he was soon chuckling. "Relax, Kai. I'm not saying you are but in my line of work even the most unlikely outcomes must be considered.

"Anyway, you asked me what I think you should do. My answer would be to plead guilty." Kai guffawed in disbelief to which he was sharply rebuked with a hint of indignation. "Don't pretend it's so ridiculous. Don't forget, if I took this trial I would get paid a hell of a lot of money for it. This would be one of the major trials of the year, I'll remind you. It could work wonders for my career no matter the outcome. However, I'm more concerned about your future. There's not a chance in hell that I could convince the honest jury that you're innocent. You're past mistakes have messed that up. What I can do, however, is get you to plead guilty in the hopes that the sentence passes isn't too harsh. Normally, when a criminal agrees not to go through with the trial their punishment is a little relaxed considering the court's just been saved the time and money of running a trial."

Kai thought this over and could see the sense in it. That didn't mean he agreed. Plus, if he pled then that meant Tala would instantly be found guilty too. They had agreed that they were in this together. He couldn't turn his back on his friend – his only friend – now.

"I'll do it," He answered, "if Tala will too."

The lawyer seemed to be expecting this and smiled thinly. Kai deduced that this wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. "I thought as much. One thing to your attributes, Kai, is that you know where your loyalties are." He took a leather briefcase from below the table and placed it onto the surface. Kai could smell the unmistakable scent of authentic leather. Claredon opened the briefcase and took out a file named 'Tala Valkov 9839' and opened it up. "I'll contact his lawyer and see what he has to say for himself. If you'll just bare with me a minute I'll make the call."

Kai nodded as Claredon produced a modern looking cell phone from the pocket of his coat and left the room with Tala's file firmly held under his armpit. Kai was almost one hundred percent positive that Tala would agree to plead if Kai would. Not only that, but surely he would be able to see the sense in it. If they didn't and then decided to chance their arm by having a trial and then found guilty the consequences could lead to their death in the world's least comfy chair. Still, he wouldn't let Tala down if that was what his decision was. He would stick by his side right until the very end even if it did mean his end too.

An alien thought occurred to him and he was sure to push it to the back of his mind as soon as it did. The idea that perhaps it should be Tala doing something for him this time crept up. After all, he did almost kill the both of them in a desperate act of desperation. What kind of friend would do that and then let him down when shove came to hurl?

But that was insane.

They'd been through so much, not even over the past few days but even through growing up too. They'd been together, always helping one another out no matter how tedious or simple the problem was they had always been able to rely on one another. So it didn't even make sense to even contemplate that that was going to change, especially at what could be the turning point of their entire lives. Tala wasn't just going to abandon him now. Maybe he'd gone insane a little bit in the past and he couldn't be held responsible for that. For Christ's sake, he was seeing ghosts! How much more mad can you be?

Kai ignored the fact that he had seen it too.

In conclusion to the rambling of his thoughts, Tala was not going to abandon ship while there were still passengers on board. He just wouldn't. End of.

But if he did…

If he did, Kai wasn't actually sure that he'd followed, when he came to think about it. Why should he? This was the most logical answer. Besides, why prolong the inevitable?

It was settled. He was pleading guilty no matter what. If Tala chose to play the fool and try to fight to prove his innocence he could try and Kai would wish him all the best. But it would be a fight he'd have to win by himself because Kai's days of fighting are over. No more. He couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't admit defeat again.

Alan Claredon came back into the room looking grim and he needn't have told Kai the news for he could already guess it. "Tala's going to go through with the trial, he said. So it's your call what you want to do. I can't stress enough how little chances you have of escaping this as free men, Kai."

"That's okay. I'm going to plead anyway. It'd be stupid not too and I'm not going to mirror Tala's mistakes."

He was shocked but tried not to show it. Instead he took of his think glasses and cleaned them with a handkerchief marked with his initial. "I understand. In that case, you're sentencing will be carried out in three days." He looked at Kai with a sense of loss. "You're going to be in prison for a very long time Kai. I'll warn you of that right now."

Kai nodded gravely. "I know."

* * *

Tala couldn't believe what he was hearing. His own lawyer was a woman in her late thirties who was obviously a demon in the court room – he could tell by her good looks and clipped tone. However, talking to her made him think he could kill the president on open air and get away with it. She had a charismatic charm that reminded him of what he could have been if law had been his thing in school. This was also the sort of woman he could imagine himself marrying when he got out of this mess. Not that age, or course, but with those looks. 

However, the demon of the court had just dropped a bombshell on him. It seemed after all they had been through together he was going to abandon him and selfishly look out for himself. If Kai were here right then he would have knocked him into the next week.

He pounded his fists on the table in anger. "What the hell do you mean he's pleading?" He demanded.

She shrugged callously. "It means that it's going to indicate you're guilt too. I suggest you follow suit and plead too."

Tala narrowed his eyes at her and he felt her shiver under the cold stare. "Can't you get me out of it? What are my parents paying you for?"

She pursed her lips together and flicked her long auburn hair over the shoulder of her black suit. "Your parents are paying me to get you as light a sentence as possible. Obviously, that's what Kai's lawyer has told him to do and your friend has taken his advice." She leaned forward onto the desk and arched her back towards him, making her ample bust jut out. "If one of you is saying that you're guilty, what chance has the other of claiming innocence?" Tala fell silent under the triumphant smirk of Ashley Cole's blood red lips. "So what are you going to do?"

"Whatever you tell me do…" Tala said with resigned defeat.

Cole nodded solemnly. "In that case we'll have you plead by the end of the week." As she walked past she squeezed his shoulders tightly and said, "You've done the clever thing. They were never going to find you innocent, not in a million years."

He watched her leave like a lion that had just caught its prey. He could sense the power in her walk and wanted nothing more than to break those slender legs and see how much power she had then. The click of her heels resounded through the hallway long after she's gone and to Tala the reminded him of the trigger of a gun being pulled when there was no ammo. He had a strange sensation the bullets had just been wasted on him.

Immediately after she had left, one of the prison guards had him on his feet and was marching him back to his cell with more force than was necessary. Tala was more than aware that this guy didn't like him and would quite happily watch him fry with a box of popcorn to munch on while he did.

He was shoved roughly into his single cell and made a two fingered gesture behind the guards back that wasn't the symbol for peace. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the prisoner in the cell opposite him snigger at his antics but didn't bother reacting to him in anyway. Instead, he flumped onto his bed cursing the name of Kai Hiwatari over and over again in his mind. He'd been sold out by his best 'friend. The same friend which he'd lived his entire life together, helping each other out whenever they needed it and how did he repay him? Sent him to prison. Possibly for life. No. There was no possibly about it. What Kai had done was ensure that he never breath in the air as a free man ever again.

Angrily, Tala punched his fist against the wall and had to snuffle a cry if pain. He looked at his reddening hand in dismay and added this to the list of Kai related problems he'd had since the night Garnet had died. From the crash to Hilary to wanting to hand themselves in to not even chancing a trial, Kai had caused him nothing but grief since this whole fiasco had begun. In fact, he'd probably have been better off going separate ways from Kai. He was certain he wouldn't be in the position he was now: rotting away in a dingy jail cell with no hopes of ever having the life he once knew.

There were many things in life that Tala regretted. So many that he probably couldn't even begin to count them. But the one thing he wished he'd never had done (and it wasn't tying Garnet up in a car boot because he didn't actually fully regret that. He only regretted the consequences of it) was be friends with Kai Hiwatari

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	13. The Sentence

There's two chapters left to this story left, just to let you guys know:P

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

The Sentence 

Kai felt uncomfortable in the fitted suit which Claredon had brought in for him for the sentencing. His son, twenty two, two years older than he, was following in his father's footsteps to become a lawyer and that suit, Kai had been told, was the one of his own. Nervously, he tugged at the black, rich feeling material so that it sat on his shoulders properly and not sagging since it was just a little too big for him. Kai imagined Claredon's son – an Alan, too, - was carrying a little extra weight around the belly.

"You look smart," Claredon told him with a touch of pride in his voice. Kai thought it was because he probably reminded him of his son the first time he set foot in a court room. Only he was pretty sure his son was the prosecutor and not the prosecuted. "The judge will be along shortly to give sentence. It's a man by the name of Judge Conway. I've worked with him several times and he's fair. He's got children too, so that might work in your favour."

_Or against,_ Kai thought.

"Tala should be arriving soon, too, with his representative, a Miss Ashley Cole."

"You sound like you don't approve?" Kai prompted.

Claredon looked around the small waiting room for signs of anyone who might listen in. Only Stephen accompanied them, assigned to be hand cuffed to Kai for the sentencing. "I've met her only twice and each occasion was particularly memorable. Let's just say you'll know why the minute you see her." There was the sound of high heels clipping against the tiled floor from outside the room. "And you'll hear her before you see her."

At the door, held open by a police officer whose eyes where fixed on somewhere which could fall under sexual harassment, stood a stunning looking woman who Kai assumed to be Miss Ashley Cole, stress on the 'Miss'. He could smell the sultry scent of her perfume and assumed it to be something expensive: Chanel No Five, perhaps. Behind her a sullen looking Tala followed, handcuffed to a policeman who obviously thought his prisoner was no better than the dirt coating his shoe, in a crisp suit which Kai noticed was one of his own. Tala's parents had decided to the involved in the case. This Miss Ashley Cole was probably therefore the best lawyer they could find under their price range which was, to put it bluntly, infinite.

She stood with like some sort of unearthly goddess as Tala was brought past her. Her face was tanned and had a western European look about it, proved but her high, accentuated cheekbones and elongated neck. Her eyes were a stormy grey and her hair was an auburn red that reminded Kai of fall back in Orange Country when leaves of that shade seem to dance from the trees and cover the sidewalks. She had on a pencil skirt with a slit up the side which on any other woman would seem to seductive for the courtroom but on her it was just a part of her body, like the heart.

"Tal-" Kai started to say but was cut off when his friend greeted him with four solid knuckles aimed directly at his left cheekbone. When it connected he felt his head snap back into another reality.

"That's for selling me our, you son of a bitch!" Tala spat as his minder fought to regain control of him with the help of several other officers who managed to pull them off Kai.

In a daze, Kai watched as Tala was pulled away like a pit-bull pulled from its target, desperate to get in for one more bite. He could see Miss Ashley Cole was finding the whole scene rather amusing as she covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to hide her cruel laughter.

"Son, are you okay?" Claredon asked, putting an ice pack – which seemed to be kept handy just in case a situation like this one arose – over where a bruise was already forming. "That seemed like some punch he gave you."

"Yeah I suppose," Kai replied, listening to the struggle that was now continuing outside the room. "I guess I sort of deserved it anyway."

"Bullshit," said Stephen. "You did the right thing, looking out for yourself. From what I've heard from the story you've told that's what your old buddy's been doing straight from the start." He patted Kai on the back. "By the way, that kid's got some force behind him, ain't he? I actually felt the jolt through your body too."

Kai smirked, though it came out as more as a wince. "Take that and multiply it by ten if you want to know how I feel right now."

The two men looked at each other and burst into laughter. Stephen ruffled his hair fondly. "You know, I think I'm gonna like working in prison with you. A part of me's actually looking forward to it, as much as I'd like to let you go."

"As much as I enjoy the thrill of your company, I can't say I feel the same way." Kai smiled sadly. "Kind of ironic, though. I've spent my entire life doing what other people have told me thinking that when I graduate from college that'll all be over and now…now I've got a whole lifetime of it."

Looking Kai straight in the eyes, Stephen said, "You don't deserve to be here, kid. If I had it any other way you wouldn't be. You'd be back in Orange, partying with your friends and doing what all other kids your age do."

"What?" Claredon asked, eyes wide in mock horror, "Booze, bitches and brick?"

"Exactly!"

Kai tried to look serious but couldn't quite manage it. "For your information, I've never tried any type of drug in my life. And as for the bitches, well we all know where _that's _got me."

An elderly lady that looked near retirement popped her head through the door and looked at them over her glasses. "Mr. Claredon the judge is hear and they'll be beginning trail shortly."

"Well, son," Claredon said, returning to his sombre stance that Kai assumed he put on for all his convict clients who were about to meet their fate, "we'd better not keep them waiting."

* * *

The courtroom inside was practically like the ones Kai had seen in those movies where the lawyer's trying to defend the innocent from an unjust sentence – and knowing Hollywood, they generally always come out on top. He, however, wasn't going to be so lucky. He was led through a crowd of people gathered there to watch the sentencing and noticed amongst them Garnet's parents. They looked like they hadn't slept in weeks and her mother (who never left the house looking less than prefect) was like a mannequin doll. There was no emotion on her face which was as hard set as a statue except even stonier. Her ocean blue eyes caught onto his and the look he received was of pure hate. It was strange to see this woman who had so often baked him cookies in his younger years and ask him fondly about his school work and girlfriends now glowering at him as if he was the scum of the earth. Garnet's father – a proud looking man who'd done well for himself and his family – followed her gaze and put his arm around her shoulder, joining in on the 'We-Hate-Kai' stares. 

Amongst the endless ocean of gatherers, Kai could also see some people he knew from college who looked as if they were there to support him and Tala, not condemn them. It wasn't much of a majority but it was enough to make Kai feel that maybe he wasn't totally alone. Some of the girls along the front where even wearing matching t-shirts saying 'What's The Full Story?'. Of course they would understand. They'd been in college with Garnet and some of them in high school. They knew what she had been like. They knew that he and Tala wouldn't have killed her on purpose. They didn't think but they _knew_. Or even believed. And that's what mattered.

Tala was already waiting in the holding stalls when Kai was let inside with Stephen beside him. Tala let his ice blue eyes send a chill through Kai at the callousness in them and then smirked.

"Sorry about earlier but I'm sure you understand," Tala said in an almost drawl that sounded as if he'd been sedated. Kai wasn't sure if he was or not. It was hard to tell anymore since Tala had changed so much mentally. "I mean, we could have got away if we'd just told them the truth."

"Your truth or the actual truth?" Kai asked.

Tala advanced towards him but was kept back by the minder. "The truth that would have gotten us free, you fucking pansy. If you'd had to guts to adapt the story a little then we'd be fine."

Kai sighed at Tala's lack of sense. He was obviously desperate. "What good would that have done? We wouldn't have been able to collaborate our stories anyway." He was silent for a few seconds, not sure if he dared to say what he truly wanted to. Then he thought fuck it. "Actually, if you're going to blame anyone, blame your stupid, screwy self. If you had just told your lawyer the real truth in the first place I wouldn't have been forced to plead. You've been talking about us sticking together since the very start but now I see its only when I follow your lead are you willing to do it. Well fuck that shit, Tala. Fuck that shit right around the corner. You sold _me_ out. You fucking tried to kill me, you insane piece of shit. You tried to kill me because you didn't want to go to prison. Well now look where we are and it's because of your own stupidity we're here. So thanks very fucking much, Tala. You can always rely on your friends."

Stephen leaned in towards him and muttered, "I'd watch what you're saying to him, Kai. He doesn't seem stable."

Instead of diving for him as Kai thought he would, Tala let a relaxed casual smile take over his face. He reminded Kai spookily of the Joker in the 'Batman' movie. "That's some speech. I'm surprised you actually had the balls to say it. Or is it because you know I'll be held back?" He paused as if he was really contemplating this. "Well whatever." His facial expression changed then and when he looked at Kai he could see sincerity in his eyes, the sincerity of the Tala he'd known since childhood. The Tala he used to play hide and seek with when they were ten, share homework with and talk about girls with. It was the Tala he was able to go to when he had problems he couldn't talk about with anyone else, mainly his grandfather's abuse. It was good he was still there. "It's a shame we had to end up like this. After all we've been through…and I'm not just talking about the past few days. I mean life in general. It's not been too good to you, has it Kai? Look, I don't know what's going to happen to us in the future, but at least let's face it together. That way we know there's at least one person in the whole world who doesn't want us to die, right?"

He held out his hand and Kai shook it in truce, although it was awkward being handcuffed to the wardens.

"Actually, Kai, I might have to retract that," Tala said quietly so no one could hear him but Kai. "Remember how I said I don't want anyone to decide my fate? Well I still mean it. I don't want people telling me when I can eat, sleep, take a shit, anything. If that's how I've got to live my life then I don't think I can. I- I just don't think I can."

"Tal…" Kai said softly and was surprised to find the tenderness in his voice for the boy he grew up with. "I don't know if I get what you're saying. I don't know if I want to get it."

"Just forget I said anything, Kai." Tala nodded. "Just forget it."

A female bailiff stood in the centre of the courtroom. "All rise for the honourable Judge Conway."

There was a mass of feet stamping on the ground as the judge entered the court and sat down. From the moment he saw him, Kai thought he sensed trouble. He was old. His thinning hair was on the verge of white and he had crow's feet at his hard set eyes. Claredon said that Conway had children. Now Kai wished he'd asked the gender.

He felt Tala glance nervously at him and he nodded his understanding. This seemed to spell trouble for the both of them.

"Kai Hiwatari and Tala Valkov, you're been arrested under suspicion of the kidnap and murder of Garnet Granger, a girl who you were once said to have been very close to. After that, it is claimed you attempted to bury the body and flee the country, in the meantime committing fraud and car theft until you were finally stopped in Texas before you reached the Mexican border."

Conway had an accent which Kai couldn't place. He was definitely American and possibly from the northern part of the country. It also had to crackles in it that could only be acquired from smoking twenty a day from the age of eight, though he had a demeanour that said he was from a more up class background. Looks, or course, could be deceiving.

"Please bring forth Mr. Hiwatari and Mr. Valkov to the front of the stand."

All eyes where on him and Tala as they were led out of the stalls. Some were full of support but most full of loathing and disgust. He also had the strangest feeling that some one was here that he hadn't seen, watching him, hoping he'll be alright. He did a quick sweep of the courtroom and caught no one who fitted this description.

"Kai Hiwatari," Conway carried on, "on these charges how do you plead?"

Kai swallowed deeply as he tried to wet his mouth a little bit since it had gone remarkably dry. "Guilty."

"Tala Valkov, on these charges how do you plead?"

"Guilty," Tala said with resignation.

The courtroom was silent. Not a sound was made as they waited for Conway to declare their punishment. The only thing Kai could hear was the beating of his heart, getting louder, faster. If that old fart up in his big tall seat looking down on him didn't make up his mind soon, Kai thought his heart might actually burst from his chest.

Conway swallowed once, looking from Kai to Tala as he did so. It was as if he was enjoying this. It was as if he was enjoying making them wait to hear their fate, sadistic bastard that he was. The thing that really made Kai detest this old man was the fact he was about to determine their future without hearing the whole story. He hadn't given them a chance to explain that it was an accident. A terrible accident.

"Hiwatari, Valkov. What you did to that poor girl was an ruthless act of taking advantage of a girl who would have trusted you. You then caused her great mental stress by tying her up and putting her into the boot of a car where she had no idea where she would be. When you stopped again, you took a defenceless girl and beat her until she died after which you buried her, hoping no one would ever find the body.

"There are so many words I want to use to describe you, but most would be inappropriate for this courtroom. Ruthless, calculated and most of all evil.

"Considering this, by the power given to me by the United States Government, I sentence you to death by injection until your heart stops beating, to be carried out this Friday, June 12th."

He slammed his hammer down and the courtroom went into an uproar. Kai felt his knees give way under him and was caught by Stephen who looked as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. Well neither could he.

The journey back to the prison was a surreal blur containing jeers, cried of protest and flashing bulbs from the cameras of reporters desperate for a photograph for the condemned men. Kai didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to Tala and in days.

It was the last chance he would ever have.

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


	14. The Visitor

Hi guys! I'm sad to say I only have one more chapter to write on this and then its concluded. I'm going to be kinda sad, I think. I really loved writing this. It was one of my favourites. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and that its not too disappointing for all those wanting a happy ending.

I have a suggestion to make when you're almost midway through this chapter that if possible you liste nto Roxette 'It Must Have Been Love'. I don't know, but that song was sort of playing through my head as I wrote this so it might fit the scenes to come.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

The Visitor 

It is always strange what night could do to a person. It is almost as if they change as soon as the moon rises; like some sort of mental werewolf. For some people, their up most fears crawl out from the depths of the shadows to haunt them, or their deepest worries ride to the surface until its all they can think about. Sometimes, people can get their greatest – and worst – ideas under the influence of the moon. Sometimes it can give people the kick start they need to change their lives. For Tala Valkov, all of these things applied. He stared at the luminous orb in the sky, debating wither or not to wish upon one of the many stars in hopes of getting the extra courage he felt he was lacking.

It was funny, really. In two days he was to be inflicted with capital punishment and he wasn't afraid of it. But right now, he was debating wither or not to take his life himself and it scared the hell out of him. Being killed by another was one thing but killing yourself…? The demons in his head had been working overtime for this one. Will he or won't he? Should he or shouldn't he?

Outside of his barred window a glorious shooting star whizzed by the moon. It was an omen and a favourable one, at that. Even if it wasn't a sign, surely the big guy upstairs would understand his confusion? So many things were happening right now it was easy to get lost in your own mind. That was what Tala was. Lost. Lost with no hope of finding the pathway out. Well…there was one route he knew but taking it was suicide in the most literal sense of the word that was possible. But did he really have a choice? Not if he wanted to keep control his own fate. There was no other way about it really, was there? If he remained as he was the bastards would inject him with whatever the hell it is they inject guys with him with and it would be in front of a hateful audience; a gathering of people who'd only met to watch him die. That was something he definitely did _not _want.

No. He wasn't going to let the bastards kill him. They weren't going to take his life from him. It was his life, not theirs. He would steal the pleasure from them. He would have the last laugh.

Looking around the cell, he didn't have much to work with. His shoelaces had been removed from his trainers: not that they would have done much good, anyway. The only thing was a flimsy bedcover. He lifted it up and examined it carefully. It was light enough to make a noose with and he was pretty sure it was durable enough to hold his weight. There was only one problem. Did he have the guts to do it? Could he kill himself? Well, why not. He'd already killed some one else. Why couldn't he take his own life? Besides, the world loves a trier. He'd have to work quick. The guards monitored death row constantly so check for any attempts on the prisoners' lives. It was quite ironic. They were going to kill them anyway, yet they worried about the prisoners killing themselves. If he wasn't shaking so badly Tala might have laughed out loud at this.

His fingers trembled as he tried to make a knot around the noose that was just big enough to go around his neck and tighten with the weight of his body. To add to his difficulty, the light being supplied by his good buddy the moon was pretty bad, barely enough for him to see his fingers before his face. Still, he managed. He made a noose that was pretty sturdy considering it was made by an amateur in the dark. The other problem remaining now was wither or not the bars on the window were high enough up for him to dangle from. He stood with his back against the wall and put his hand above his head against it to mark his place. He studied were his hand was position and saw there was not much between than and the window. Maybe not enough. But, the world loves a trier, to use repetition.

He was aware of a sudden feeling of coldness. It completely took over his body as his tied his makeshift roped around the solid bars of the window. It was as if his body was trying to make one last defence against the madness in his mind that had grown until it completely controlled him. But that was okay. It was fine. If he wasn't at least a little bit insane he probably would be in bed trying to sleep for the night instead of being awake trying to sleep forever.

One sharp tug tested the sheet's endurance and Tala was pretty confident that it was suffice. He got onto his bed and put the noose around his neck. He had to stretch it a little, but that was a good sign. This was probably going to work. Now that he was ready, did he do a countdown or did he just fall? It didn't matter anyway since his body – intentional or not, he wasn't sure – slipped forward and he fell of his bed. For on horrifying moment he thought his feet were going to touch the ground but then he realised no. He was fine. There was barely a centimetre leeway between his big toe and the cold concrete floor but it was all he needed. He could feel the life seeping out of him as he struggled for air. The noose was getting tighter and tighter around his throat and it felt magnificent. It felt like what he imagined freedom did. In his head, he could hear his heartbeat slow down until it seemed as if an eternity had passed before the last _thudump_.

The door at the far end of the corridor opened and Tala felt like laughing again. The guard had come to check on his watches but he was going to be too late. Tala had won. Tala had beaten them all. There was no way the bastards were going to decided _his _fate. No way.

As the last of his life seeped out of him, he knew this was the proof. In dying, he was going to be free.

* * *

Kai woke up in a cold sweat, panting hard. He looked at the aluminous clock that hung on the wall outside his cell and saw it was half past one in the morning. He had been woken up from a nightmare, except it felt so real he wasn't sue if it actually was. He hadn't seen anything, no really. But he had _felt_ it. It was as a rope had been tied around his throat and the more he tried to free himself the tighter it became until he could barely breathe at all. The only thing he was aware of seeing with the moon and he remembered thinking how he was free now that he'd drawn his terminal breath. 

It was at that point he'd woken up and a soon as he did he'd felt an indescribable feeling of loss wash over him and he was almost certain he knew what it was. The one thing he was sure of was that he was now on his own.

With that thought still on his mind he went back to a patchy sleep.

* * *

It didn't feel like long before he was woken up again only this time it wasn't the harsh bell that awoke him from his slumber but the gentle hand of Stephen who looked like he was carrying the wait of the world on his shoulder. Slowly, he let his eyes adjust to the bright light of the sun which shone directly into his cell and then looked at him, still tired from his restless night before. 

"I've got some bad news," Stephen began and bit his lip. "It's about Tala. Last night he-"

"Hung himself in his cell." Stephen looked surprised but Kai just smiled sadly. "Yeah I got a wake up call around one thirty and I assumed that's what it was. Kind of had that feeling where I'm all alone now. But whatever. I mean tomorrow I'm going to be dead, right? What does it matter wither I die alone or not?"

Stephen felt a strange sensation of paternal love for Kai but rid himself of it as soon as he could. It wouldn't do to develop a fatherly relationship with a prisoner on death row. "Actually, you might not be as alone as you think. You have a visitor waiting on you. A girl, if that's any help. She says she knows you well. She also asked me to ask you how Alex and Paul are doing, whatever the hell that means."

Kai felt his mood lighten considerably, and that was the understatement of the century. Now it didn't matter if he died tomorrow. So long as he got to see Hilary again and know that she didn't wish him dead too, he could die happily. Well, as happily as some one could whose life was being cruelly ripped from them before they'd even had a chance to live. But to see her face again, that happy, smiling face and those ruby eyes that seemed to sparkle when she smiled or laughed. He could barely contain his excitement. It was like being a kid at Christmas on the inside.

With Stephen waiting outside to escort him, Kai quickly pulled on his overalls – bright orange ones that he supposed would deter any escapees seeing as how they would be spotted a mile away – and felt glad he'd been allowed to take a shower the night before. God knew the smell of unclean men in here would put anyone off committing a crime.

"Come on Romeo," Stephen said fondly. "Your damsel's waiting for you. And if I do say so myself, she's quite the looker."

Hilary was already sitting in the visitor's room behind the glass screen with the phone already held between her ear and her shoulder, biting her nails nervously. Kai noticed as he sat down they'd been bitten down to the quick. They were red and sore looking but she didn't seem to feel the pain. She just looked at him with a strange emotion in her eyes. It was almost love but not quite. Kai imagined he was probably looking at her in the same way.

He picked up the phone. "Hi…"

"Hi…" She said back and Kai could see there were now tears in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and smiled. "God, I don't know why I came here. I…was at the trial thingy and I thought you'd get a prison sentence or something and I thought, well, I'll wait for you to come out or see you in prison and I don't know. Maybe we could have had something…?" She shrugged and looked so vulnerable that Kai just wanted to hold her and kiss her tears away. Her tear filled eyes rose up and met his. "I don't know. So I thought that maybe I shouldn't come and see you in case it made you regret tomorrow or something. Or maybe it won't and you're laughing in my face for being so naive."

Kai shook his head softly. "I'm not laughing."

"Well anyway, I decided I had to come and see you. I had to let you know I'm not mad at you. I understand and I believe you. But no one else seems to…"

"I'm so glad you're here," Kai said and put a hand on top of the glass window. Hilary did the same. "Tala hung himself last night. I was all alone before you came. It's good to know I don't have to do this by myself."

"No, I'll be here. I promise." The tears were streaming down her face now. It was so tender in its innocent beauty. "And you'll be glad to know I finally took your advice. I went back home. I never knew how much my parents really did miss me. There were a lot of tears when I returned and I lot of regrets. Mostly on their part. But its made them realise now to let me do what I want to do with my life. They know now that I'm not just a silly girl with dreams. I _know_ what I want to do with my future. Its sort or sad how there's a part of what I want that I know I can never have…" She looked back at Kai and smiled. "I wish we'd had more time."

Kai felt his heart become heavier as he felt the urge to kiss her and knew he never could. Even to hold her hand would be enough but he couldn't. This was a worse punishment than death. He wondered how long she would remember him for with nothing but memories to go by.

"I wish we did too and it's great that you're getting your life back on track. If me and Tala have done you wrong, at least we helped you to sort out your future, even if we were only the catalysts."

"You were more than the catalyst. You always will be." Now the emotion in her eyes was clear. It was the pure, raw love that only someone young could possess. It was the most powerful of all as it was the least understood. "What will I be to you?"

"My biggest regret. I regret we couldn't have had something more. Things got in the way."

"It was almost love, wasn't it?" Hilary asked, smiling sadly. She had regret too. She felt like she wanted to live the rest of her life with this man, but there was no way that could happen. That was a bitter truth she'd have to carry with her always. When she got married and started a family, she'll have to live with the fact her husband was always going to be her second choice.

"I think it was almost," Kai smiled back at her. "But no matter what happens, I'm always going to be with you. I swear to God I will. You're going to live on without me and I want you to do it with a smile on your face. Your life shouldn't be over just because mine is. I mean, we barely know each other."

"But it was enough."

"It was…"

They looked at each other and Kai saw how better groomed Hilary seemed to be now she was living with her parents. The black trousers she was wearing and the open necked shirt were of the expensive kind but Kai imagined that was more her mother's input than her own. Her hair had been cut but not a lot. Her chocolate brown bangs were still long enough to frame her face but they were noticeably tidier. She was also wearing make up – a small amount, albeit. A flush of rouge on her cheeks, a flick of mascara on her eyelashes and a red lipstick on her lips. In the air there was the aroma of expensive perfume which Kai labelled as a Chanel. These things weren't really Hilary but they were a part of her life now, just as he would always be.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, that shyness returning.

"Just at how beautiful you look."

She burst out laughing and some of the wardens looked at them suspiciously. "And there's me thinking I'd found someone who doesn't believe in corny stuff. I have to say Alex, I'm disappointed. I mean Kai. God, that's so confusing."

"I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true," Kai said, joining in her laughter.

Stephen put a hand on Kai's shoulder apologetically and squeezed it lightly. "Sorry, son, but time's almost up. You'd better finish."

Tears were beginning to form in Hilary's eyes again and Kai felt his heart break. Those tears were for him. She was crying for his sake. To him it felt both touching and remorseful.

"I'll be there tomorrow," she said, nodding as the streams trickled down her cheeks. "I'll be with you tomorrow so you're not alone. You don't have to die alone. Not anymore."

"Hilary…"

"I think I might love you, Kai." A small smile twanged at her lips but didn't quite make the journey. "I might, but we'll never truly know, will we?"

"I guess we won't."

She took her hand away from the window and curled her fingers against her chest. "I'm not going to say goodbye. I won't ever say goodbye."

With a final sweep of tears across her cheeks, Hilary stood up to leave. She was halfway across the room when Kai shouted on her: "I _know_ I love you." He wasn't sure if she would be able to hear him but he had to try anyway. God knew he had to try. She turned around to face him with a sad smile on her face and then carried on.

Kai wasn't sure if she'd heard him or not but there was something in her eyes that told him even if she hadn't heard him, she'd certainly felt it. For Kai, that meant everything. Nothing else matter. Not Garnet, not Tala, not death. Only that Hilary knew what he felt for her was as close to love as he could possibly ever hope to know.

* * *

Please review! 

jellybean-kitty


	15. The End

This is the final chapter of 'Revenge'. I'd like to thank everyone who read this as knowing people were reading my work made it all worth while. Also, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who was kind enough to leave reviews! I like to know what people are thinking while their reading this and there's nothing better for a writer than the opinions of others!

I hope you guys all enjoy the ending. I took longer than normal to type it out becuase I wanted it to be perfect. You guys may not like it, but I think it fits what the story's about.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

The End

Kai wasn't one to feel fear. That was a feeling almost as alien to him as jealousy but when he woke up on Friday, June 12th, fear was the first thing he felt and he didn't like it at all. It wasn't that he was afraid to die, but he was afraid of what was going to happen _after_. He wasn't a religious man, but the devil you know is better than they devil you don't know. The only problem with him was that he didn't know _any_ devils, so his afterlife – if there was to be one- was as foreseeable as who was going to be the next president. That feeling of not knowing scared him immensely. If he believed in hell, fine. At least he knew that's where he would be ending up. If he believed in reincarnation, even better. But he didn't know what to believe in. Right now, the only belief he really had was that he had fallen in love with a total stranger and would never have the chance to have a relationship with her. Thinking about that, he'd rather have no belief's at all.

Ironically, the weather outside of his prison cell was glorious. The sun was shining brightly as it laughed spitefully in his face. The birds were twittering outside and the temperature was just perfect. Normally on a day like this one, Kai and his friends would hit the beach and spend the day basking the in the warm rays of Mr. Sun. Today the only thing Kai would be basking in is his dead body: a morbid thought to contrast with a heavenly day.

At least he didn't have long left to feel…well, anything. His execution was scheduled to occur at noon, dead on. His judgement of time had never been acute, but he'd always been fairly accurate and he sensed that it was perhaps seven o'clock, verging on the edge of eight. Perfect. He had, at the very most, five hours of life left. Five hours of his heart still beating and his mind still working. He just wanted it to be over. He just wanted to not have to think about what he'd done or what's going to be done to him. He just wanted to not think at all. He envied – that's two strange emotions that have surfaced in such a short time - those who were incapable of thoughts and feelings. What a life it must be to live without such burdens.

Another thing he was curious about was what was to become of his body? Who had he to take care of it? The only living relatives he had obviously wanted nothing to do with him so would he even have a burial? A celebration of his life – or death? Certainly he wouldn't expect Hilary to take charge of that. He wondered if she'd even turn up if his family decided to have one. She probably wouldn't and he didn't want her too. He would rather she moved on with her life as quickly as possibly and not linger with the things that could never be. At least some one would grieve for him. That was enough to lift his spirits, even if it was slightly.

The bell sounded that signalled it was time for the prisoners to get up. It appeared on his last day in the mortal coil he wasn't to be given a lie in. It was a harsh world. At least he was allowed one the previous day. They were too kind, the prison staff. The bell also indicated that it was eight o'clock. In four hours he would be dead. In four hours nothing would be left of him but the memories of those around him, most of which would be hateful, and his carcass. It seemed he was full of pleasant thoughts this fine day.

The tolling had only just ended when Stephen was already at his cell and looking in at Kai with his eyes full of concern and sorrow.

"Today's the day kid. Scared?"

Kai smirked and he hoped it was stronger than he felt right then. "Are you kidding me? Bring it on."

"Cut the bravado, son." Kai was taken aback by how quickly Stephen had seen through him. He thought he was pretty convincing. "I've seen this kind of thing for thirty years, kiddo. I'm not easily fooled by it. If you're afraid you have every right to be and don't be ashamed. I've seen hardened murderers start to cry before they've been lead out to death, so don't feel embarrassed if you feel the need to. I certainly won't think any less of you."

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

Stephen nodded it off and unlocked his cell. "It's time to eat your last breakfast. Chef's going to make whatever you like, so just name it."

Kai thought for a while. His last meal last night had been a dish he'd always been given as a child which had originated from Russia, according to his grandfather, and was therefore important to him. Eating it alone hadn't been pleasant but the taste had been. Before now, Kai thought the whole 'last meal' thing was a made up story by Hollywood and had been pleasantly surprised to find it was on the contrary.

"Toast and coffee."

His warden blinked several times, frowned and eventually laughed. "You know, most prisoners order something a little more extravagant. Are you sure that's all you want?" Kai nodded. "Suit yourself. I'll tell the chef. You may as well come with me since it'll take all of ten minute to prepare. Besides," – he said this looking sheepish – "I sort of don't want you to be alone. I like you, son. I don't want you to be alone today." Kai couldn't think of anything to say and instead offered a small smile that was really just a slight up curl of his lips and hardly noticeable. He held out his wrists for them to be handcuffed but Stephen shook his head. "It's not necessary. I've got a feeling you're not going to run, right?"

"I don't really see much of a point. I've got nothing left out there." _Except Hilary_, he thought to himself. But really, what good would that do her? Going into hiding with a criminal is something he wouldn't ask her to do, though she would probably willingly do it if it meant he would be with him. He couldn't do that. Without him, she had a future and that was just fine by him.

Either Stephen couldn't think of anything else to say or he just didn't want to say it. Either way, Kai didn't mind. He didn't feel in a very talkative mood. To be honest, he just wanted to get this day over with. Or half day. He was tired of thinking and he was tired of feeling. In the end, what did it mean? That answer was simple. Nothing. It meant nothing. His life would just be one of the billions that didn't matter to anyone and wouldn't be remembered. Oddly, that was probably a good thing. Who would want to be remembered for eternity as a murderer?

* * *

His breakfast had been just like he'd always had since high school: browned toast that was slightly buttered and a mug of coffee with no extra ingredients. It was maybe a form of reminiscence of a better life but he enjoyed it just the same. The best thing about it was he always took an excruciatingly long time to eat breakfast, so by the time he'd finished it was just about to strike nine o'clock. There wasn't much time left now and he was glad. This waiting around was torture. The way the prison staff were looking at him as he walked by was infuriating. They looked at him as if he was already dead. He supposed in a way he was. Inside, he could slowly feel himself dying. That must be his mind's way of dealing with it. 

"You look zoned out, son," Stephen said as they walked back to the cells. Kai had been informed that a priest was coming to give him his last rights, if he was a religious man. Normally Kai would say no, but he didn't want to take any chances. "Is it getting to you?"

Kai knew exactly what his warden meant when he said 'it' but shook his head anyway. "I've just got a lot to think about."

Stephen looked at him as if to say he wasn't sure wither he could believe him or not. Well there wasn't much Kai could do about that. When they arrived at Kai's quarters, a priest was already waiting there for him. He wasn't in the normal overalls that Kai saw on television or on the few occasions he had gone to mass; he was wearing trousers, a shirt and a shoes – all black. The only thing that identified him as a priest was the white collar he wore in place of a tie.

On Kai's re-entry to his cell, the priest – quite young looking and slender – made the sign of the cross. _The power of Christ compels you_, thought Kai. He smiled warmly at Kai and gestured for him to sit beside him on the bed. Kai did so after a sharp look from Stephen when he initially hesitated. He introduced himself as Father Paul. Like Tala's alias.

"Are you a Christian?" Paul asked.

"Under the circumstances."

Kai thought he might find this offensive but instead he laughed. "Most people are. Would you like me to give you your last rights and forgive you of all your sins?"

Not quite believing what he was being told, Kai quirked an eyebrow. "It's that simple?"

"If you believe and are truly sorry, then it is. Our Lord forgives everyone who accepts him as the Almighty Father."

"Okay then. Shoot." He could feel Stephen look at him disapprovingly and decided perhaps he should try to make amends. "Sorry, I guess I've got a lot to think about it."

Paul smiled. "Of course you do."

Most of what the Father said to Kai made as much sense as shutting the barn door after the horse had bolted but he sat patiently as he did so and responded when asked, mostly with 'amens' and such holy words.

They spent some time – over and hour - talking to each other – mainly Father Paul did the talking and Kai listened and occasionally put in some of his own input. After he left, Paul gave Kai a prayer card with the 'Our Father' prayer written on the back of it and on the front was a picture of what Paul had told him was 'the Virgin Mary, Our Mother'. How on earth a virgin could be a mother was beyond Kai but he decided not to ask anything that questioned the faith, especially since he seemed so sensitive about it.

Eventually, he left and Kai was strangely glad to be rid of his presence. In his last few hours of life he didn't want to be in the company of a holy man telling he needed to repent in order to be safe for the next life.

"Does this happen with all inmates?" Kai questioned Stephen, more just to hear his voice.

"Mostly, but only those who are about to die and of course if they're religious. It's not always priests we have in but sometimes rabbis and other religious leaders," Stephen explained. Kai nodded and bit his lip. Stephen noticed the change in his demeanour and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it tightly. "You've not got long now and then it'll be all over. You'll be in a better place."

"Like heaven?" Kai asked sarcastically.

"Any place has to be better than this, am I right?"

He looked at him but didn't bother to reply to his question directly. Instead, he asked another: "When will they take me away?"

Stephen looked at his watch. "Any minute now, son. There's a surprising amount of time that's required of the prisoner. We need to ensure that we'll be able to inject into your arm and also there's a speech before the needle's plunged in that gives you a chance to talk for yourself. Some prisoners take up to twenty minutes at that bit, so they'll want you in early in case you're one of the blabberers."

"I won't be."

"I didn't think so."

Kai sighed deeply and leant his head against the wall of his cell. The sun was shining through the bars and into his eyes. It was warming in an ironic way. "I just want it to be over."

Sitting down beside him, Stephen put an arm around his shoulders. "I know you do. It will be soon."

Another warden appeared at the cell door and unlocked it. Kai recognised this man as one of the gruff guards who didn't allow himself to develop anything with his prisoners other than getting their respect which on the most part he had.

"They're ready for Hiwatari now."

It annoyed Kai how he wasn't even addressed. It was as if he wasn't there or as if he was so beneath him that he didn't deserve to be spoken to by him. He balled his fists to vent his impeding anger. The older guard noticed this and smirked. To Kai he obviously knew what he was doing and was well practised in it.

"I'm sorry Hiwatari. You obviously still think you're back home in Orange Country where I expect you were the cream of the crop, the ruler of the roost. Not used to being treated like you're not a prince. Are you?"

Before Kai could reply, Stephen cut in with, "leave it out, Jones. He's just a kid. I'll take care of him." The man called Jones sneered at Kai and Kai sneered back. He may be afraid of what lies in the next life but he'd be fucked sideways if he was afraid of some old fart. To Kai, Stephen said, "Don't mind him. He's just a bit of an old timer. He thinks every criminal's a crook."

After he was shackled – and it occurred to Kai that this wasn't going to change until he was finally dead – he was led down the entire length of the prison where several inmates commented on the fact he was a 'dead man walking'. Kai glared at these such people but it had not effect on hardened criminal who just laughed at his expense. This gave Kai a sudden feeing of loneliness and longing for a place where his every word was hung onto like it was solid gold. He was told to ignore them but it was extremely difficult to do especially since he knew it was only the truth they were speaking. He was in fact a walking talking corpse. It was sad to think what he'd now became after having so much potential in his life. Well, there was really no point in dwelling on the things which weren't. He would only upset himself further and to do this publicly would make him even worse.

They eventually arrived at what Kai guessed was some sort of changing room. There were many orange jumpsuits hanging up and he was measured for his height and waist length. He realised that this was what he was going to die in. It was nice to know that he was going to go making a fashion statement. Hilary (being a fashion student) would be horrified. He was partially horrified. Those colours could offend a blind person.

A suit was selected and thrust at him and Kai looked at it disapprovingly. "I don't think it's quite me." No one seemed to find this amusing in the slightest. Most of the guards actually looked uncomfortable and Kai couldn't exactly blame them. They were taking a man to his death – and a young man at that. Stuff like that probably wasn't in the job description.

Silently, he got changed from his normal prison clothes into the vile jumpsuit and his skin crawled beneath it as if there were tiny insects living there. A feeling of nausea came over him when he passed a mirror. He looked nothing like what he had done back home: his hair had completely changed colour, he was thinner and more gaunt looking plus his new attire made his skin look paler. This was the way he was going to leave the world. Not as some sexy young guy who could get any girl he wanted, not as an old man you had lived a happy and successful life but as a criminal who looked now like a drug addict.

It was only when he heard the quite murmurs of a crowd behind the next door that he realised just where he was. This was it. He was about to die and in front of an audience. He wondered if they'd brought popcorn.

"Stephen?" he asked quietly so no other guards could hear him. "Will you have any access to my things when I'm dead?"

"I'm not supposed to but I can."

"Amongst the many things I have there, there's a chain with a pendant that had a phoenix on it. I want you to take that and give to the girl I was talking to yesterday. It's the only thing I can give her so that she doesn't forget about me entirely." Kai blinked furiously and tipped his head up so that the tears forming in his eyes would go away. He was not going to let _anyone_ know that he was crying.

"Sure, kid. I'll do that for you."

The door opened and Kai was lead out so that he was in front of a contraption that looked like the one used to create Frankenstein's monster. It seemed to fit as the crowd gathered behind the transparent screen were shouting their animosity at him as if he were indeed a monster. At the very back of everyone, hiding in the corner, he could see a girl with a beige over coat on – besides the warm weather -, sunglasses and a scarf over her head that managed to cover most of her chocolate brown bangs. He could feel her eyes on him though he couldn't see him and he managed a small, discreet smile. She smiled back and twiddled her fingers which then came to a rest over her heart.

It was at this moment Stephen left his side to hand his care over to some strangers who uncuffed his hands and strapped him into the contraption so that he looked as if he was being crucified. Wired were placed at his heart, neck and on his forehead but Kai couldn't see where they connected too.

An important looking man with a grey moustache stood in front of him and held a sheet of paper up to read off of. "Kai Hiwatari, on this day June 12th of the year 2007 you have been sentenced to death by the injection of chemicals into your body as punishment for the murder of Garnet Granger. Before this procedure is carried out do you have anything to say to the masses gathered here today?"

For once the assembly was silent.

Kai licked his lips. "I know all of you think that we killed Garnet on purpose but we didn't. It was an accident, a horrible accident. We didn't mean for it to happen and we didn't mean for her to die. It was just supposed to be a prank but it went wrong. For what its worth, we're sorry that it did."

"Start the procedure," the man said, not giving anyone a moment to react to Kai's speech.

Kai closed his eyes as the patch of skin in the centre of his upper arm was treated with a damp cotton pad and then a needle was pushed inwards. He felt his body go numb as the anaesthetic (what he assumed to be) worked its way through his system. Shortly afterwards the same was done on the opposite arm only a different coloured fluid was inserted and a machine he assumed must be a heart monitor, judged by the steady beats, was turned on. Kai instantly felt the greatest pain he'd ever known but it was quickly nullified by the anaesthetic. He closed his eyes once again as he felt his body begin to get very tired and the beeps from the monitor began to slow down. He drifted further and further away until he couldn't hear anything but the thudump od his own heart which began to get weaker and weaker until he couldn't hear anything at all…

* * *

The day outside was bright and Hilary didn't think this was fair at all. Kai was a good man. Sure, he had made a few mistakes in his life but that was all they were was mistakes. Why, then, was the weather shining as if it was the greatest day known to mankind? It just wasn't fair! 

She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief for the unknown time. She missed him deeply already and the pain was worse than anything else she could think of. It was as if her own heart was going to step beating and part of her wished it would so that she could stop this hurting that surrounded it. Her eyes began to cry and she felt surprised that there were still tears left from all the ones already spent. For her, life seemed to be full of surprises just now. Who'd have thought that the boy she might have loved was going to be executed by order of the state? It was the story of her life. The boys she'd dated but never really liked were horrible yet seemed to get away with murder yet the one boy who was a genuinely nice guy and treated her like she should be wasn't that lucky.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and she uttered a small scream, edging away and facing the person who's touched her so suddenly. She recognised the man as the one who'd been with Kai when she'd visited him the previous day. He seemed troubled.

"I didn't mean to startle you," he said softly. "Kai asked me to give this. Said it's so you don't forget about him."

He handed her a silver chain with a silver phoenix pendant on it. It was cool in her hand but felt warm at the same time. She looked up to say thank you but he had already left. Looking around her, she could see that there was no one else near either and she was glad to be on her own. It felt right somehow for her to be by herself while she grieved, like a law of nature. She was about to put the pendant in the pocket of her coat but decided against it. Instead, she fastened it around her neck and slipped it inside her clothes so that it lay against her bare skin. In her mind, she vowed never to take it off again; that way it felt to her that Kai would always be with in, in spirit if not in body.

With this thought, she looked up at the sun and found herself smiling

* * *

Please review!

jellybean-kitty


End file.
